


Little Cat, Who Made Thee

by shinealightrose



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Cat/Human Hybrids, M/M, Not Angst! Kinda Sorta, Revisionist Kitty AU, Romance, extreme feels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-20
Updated: 2015-07-20
Packaged: 2018-04-10 07:49:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 83,440
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4383416
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shinealightrose/pseuds/shinealightrose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A revisionist kitty!au where returned, abandoned and unwanted hybrids get a second chance at life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I call this revisionist because this genre is rarely dealt with in a serious manner, and I've always been curious about the _other_ side of happy, sunny 'adopt a hybrid pet!' kind of plot. 
> 
> I intend to deal with this subject of hybrid cats pretty hard once the fic gets rolling, including how they are created, bred, shipped and sold, issues of ownership, discrimination, etc. Be warned that there are some angsty plot points and essential AU details which may be hard to deal with, but this is not by definition Angst, nor is there anything graphic. This is just me exploring the world and crafting it as I go. I hope you enjoy it!

 

{Welcome to the Family}

Tao realized right off the bat that this home, this new home of his, wouldn’t be as nice as his birth place. Where he had known a few acres of a gently rolling landscape for a backyard, there was only a dim outer courtyard running around three sides of the building. Where a cozy, if too large mansion, stood for a home, this austere structure of stone and masonry, squished into the suburban neighborhood on the cusp between lower middle class and the slums, looked anything but pleasant. He sniffed his nose at the prospect, halting in his steps.

“Come along, Tao,” came the friendly voice of the man guiding him. “It’s not as bad as it looks. I promise.”

Tao flattened his ears and slyly observed the human, realizing he had no real reason to doubt him. It soothed his fears a tiny bit, but in no way relieved him of the heartache of having to move, of having lost his master to old age, leaving him homeless and without family.

The man had arrived the day of the funeral, his grey hair a little tussled, and his clothes wrinkled and reeking with the scent of other cats. “I’m a feline social worker,” he’d said. “You can call me Yixing,” and “There’s no reason to be afraid. I’m here to help you since you’re alone now, and I’m going to take you soon to live with a new family, all cats. Wouldn’t you like that?”

Tao didn’t like that, but he knew that he had no choice. It’s the reason he allowed the man to help him pack his few belongings the next day and escort him to his ratty old car, and the reason he let him place a hand carefully behind his back as they walked up the uneven stone pathway to the house. Tao’s tail jittered in hesitation.

Yixing knocked raptly on the door and only seconds later it opened with a great lurch. Tao startled, but Yixing only smiled in greeting as another cat happily screeched and beckoned them in.

“This is him?” The cat asked the social worker. Tao seemed to shrink under the other’s scrutiny, but if the stranger noticed it, he evidently didn’t care enough to quit. “This is our newbie? He’s cute. I like kittens.”

Yixing laughed and Tao scowled, speechless.

“Hey now, enough of that,” said Yixing. “Why don’t you quit scaring him and introduce yourself instead, huh? I’m counting on you to show Tao around and get him familiar with the place.”

“Sure will do. So, Tao’s your name? I’m Jongdae.” The cat placed out a hand which Tao only looked at. He wrinkled his nose, scoping out the other’s smell, hoping that was all Jongdae expected for a greeting, and the forward cat seemed to understand. He dropped his hand, and laughed, and even though he had a kindly looking face for a cat, Tao refused to let his guard down.

“Alright, if you’re gonna be like that… Yixing, I can take it from here. Go and make your rounds, or do whatever it is you do, and I’ll show Tao to his room.”

“Thank you, Jongdae, I will. Be nice, now!” He warned, with a humorous nagging of his finger. It was obvious this lecture had been given many times before, but Jongdae beamed at him for reply, and the nagging finger turned instead to scratch at Jongdae’s ears as the social worker passed them both by for the interior of the house.

Tao stood awkwardly, suitcase in hand and eyes perusing their surroundings in the dim light of the foyer. Heavy patterned curtains lined the two windows on either side of the door. An old desk sat lopsided in the corner with a small lamp on it, a lot of clutter, and a scratched and torn cloth armchair beside it. The place reeked of so many scents he couldn’t place that Tao felt a little wobbly himself.

The weight of the suitcase suddenly lifted, and Tao looked back startled to see Jongdae taking it out of his hands and inclining his head to narrow archway, beyond which he could see stairs.

“Coming?” Jongdae asked.

Tao followed wordlessly up the stairs, pausing to look out a window on landing before hopping up the few remaining steps.

“Our room is the second door on the left,” Jongdae explained. “It’s a little small, but it’s homey, and we share with Kyungsoo and he’s pretty nice. Won’t bite at least.” He winked, and Tao had to wonder if that meant there were others in the house that did bite, or if Jongdae was only playing with him. He hoped the second case.

Jongdae opened the door and Tao got his first glimpse of his new room. He wished he could make it out to be worse than it was, but he had to admit it wasn’t so bad. One big window on the opposite wall and a bed underneath it. (“That’s mine!” Jongdae proudly stated.) Another bed catty-corner to it with the head of the bed up against the wall, and a little table separating it from the foot of Jongdae’s. And closest to him was Tao’s bed. He deduced this when Jongdae dropped his suitcase on the comforter and it bounced on the squeaky springs. Jongdae grinned up at him.

“Home sweet home.”

The rest of the furnishings were a rag tag ensemble of wooden drawers and a couple of desks, and there wasn’t an ounce of available wall space but the center of the room remained open, covered in a stained, warm colored rug and it was enough that Tao could probably lay down and not have his head or feet brush against anything, so maybe that was all he should be happy for.

“You don’t talk much, do you, kitten?” Jongdae asked.

“I’m not… a kitten,” were Tao’s first words.

“No? How old are you? Nineteen?”

Tao nodded. He assumed everyone here must know something about him already.

“Well that makes you the youngest. I’m the second youngest, only twenty-two, and before now _I_ was ‘kitten’ but now I graduate and you can be ‘kitten.’ See how it works?”

Tao didn’t see how that worked, but he couldn’t really expect to barge in here and change whatever crazy rules these cats have, so he gulped and nodded and sat down a little hesitantly on his bed.

“You can unpack later. Let’s go meet the others.”

The others. Ever since Yixing told him he’d be moving into a shelter with other cats, Tao wondered what they’d be like. He’d only lived with his cat parents before, though they had died nearly a decade ago and since then he’d been the only hybrid cat on the estate. He didn’t know what other cats were like, or how to live with them, so how could he tell Yixing he wasn’t excited to move to a place with only cats? How would he interact with them?

There was only one way to figure out though. The bed gave a groaning lurch when he stood up and followed Jongdae back out into the hall. The other cat stopped just at the next door and knocked twice, not bothering to wait for an answer before he barged in, dragging Tao with him.

“Ahh, so there you are!” Jongdae called in a sing song voice. “Come out, come out, and meet the new kitten!”

Tao craned his head around in the darkened room, training his eyes to adjust and find the other cat within. He was sprawled across his bed in a position that couldn’t possibly be comfortable, half on his back with his legs twisted sideways and one arm tossed behind his head. He had a head of whitish blond hair that looked mangy to Tao’s eyes, and right away he wondered if this was the one that bites.

“I don’t have to come out. You’ve already come in,” spat the cat. He sat up though to get a better look at the new kid. “So this is the kitten. Huh. Doesn’t look like much. Where’d you say he came from? A ranch? So, he was a precious one-family cat? Better get used to how life really works.”

“Oh come on, Kai. You don’t have to talk like he’s not here in the room.” To Tao, Jongdae turned and spoke, “Don’t mind him. He’s bitter. A bitter old cat, and he likes to claim he hates everything and everybody but it’s not true. He’s a softy at heart.”

A pillow hit Jongdae smack in the face, and right away the victim retaliated and sent it shooting back. Kai caught it and squeezed it, his nose screwing up into a tight expression. “I am _not_ old! And I am _not_ bitter!”

“Oh, so then you _are_ a softy?” The pillow flew through the air once more, and this time Jongdae didn’t let it go. He laughed instead, and Kai rolled over on his bed, grabbing another pillow to bury his head in. “See? A softy.” He pushed Tao quickly from the room though, and once the door was shut he sighed heavily. His ears twitched and he looked sad with the same kind of empathy Yixing had shown to Tao, but Tao didn’t pry.

Jongdae didn’t find any other cats on the second floor, and so Tao trailed him back down the stairs. They met Yixing again in the entryway.

“You’re leaving already?” Jongdae asked.

“Yes, I must get back to the office soon. I’ll send someone around later though to check on things.” He smiled and Tao suddenly wished he wouldn’t go. He didn’t dislike Jongdae, but for some reason he really dreaded being left alone in a house entirely occupied by cats. It didn’t feel right, as all his childhood he’d lived under the happy guardianship of a human master. The man hadn’t been overbearing; he’d basically let Tao do whatever he wanted, but always no matter what, if there was a problem he could run to him and let him solve all his problems and soothe all his fears. The old man would always have time for him. It was what owners and masters were supposed to do, and suddenly being deprived of that stressed Tao out more than he could say.

And yet here he was in a house with supposedly no master.

The front door shut closed, leaving behind an echoing silence. While he still had the chance, Tao had to ask Jongdae.

“Are all of you… without owners? Like, me?”

Jongdae smiled companionably. “Yes we are all without owners, and if you ask Kai, that’s a good thing, but no, none are like you.”

“What’s… what’s wrong me me?”

Jongdae suddenly laughed. “Wrong with you? Nothing’s wrong with you, Tao. You’re just an unusual breed of cat amongst us misfits!” He teased playfully with Tao’s ears at the bizarre look on Tao’s face.

“I’m unusual?” He shook his head away from the strange petting, still not comfortable with another touching his ears.

“Well, not like an unusual breed of cat… although, I guess you could put it that way.”

Tao shook his head, still not understanding.

Jongdae clarified. “I mean like you weren’t bred or trained for adoption like we were. You were actually born and raised by cat parents. Us here? We don’t remember parents. We were taken away early and raised by different agencies. Intending to be sold when we get of age… you understand?”

Maybe in the recesses of his mind Tao understood, or had heard of such things. A visitor once expressing awe that Tao was born and raised on his master’s property, that he had a picture of his family.

_“Oh, if I could only have had them as young as you,”_ the man had said in a creepy voice, before his master shooed the stranger away.

To Jongdae Tao nodded. “But you, you weren’t adopted then. And that human—“

“Yixing,” Jongdae supplied.

“—Yixing. He adopted you?”

“No he didn’t adopt us. He’s a government social worker, specially for cats. He’s retired now, but he owns the house. Six years ago he turned it into a shelter for unwanted cats, and that’s how most of us came to live here. We have no where else to go.”

Tao repeated the words in his head: no where else to go. It was fitting, he thought. He just never realized how strange his childhood had been. Now he felt some smidgen comfort that he wouldn't be alone, not in this stage of his life anyway.

Before he could ask more, Jongdae urged him into another portion of the house, a cozy, well lived in room with the same shabby collection of mismatched furniture, but plenty of soft places to sleep or doze on. Two other cats were doing such a thing now. Jongdae didn’t immediately introduce them. One slept soundly, the soft hair around his ears sticking up like spiked feathers, and he purred gently in his sleep. Tao could tell that this one was older, much older than himself or Jongdae or even Kai. He looked about thirty, around the age of Tao's parents in the last picture he had of them, and the second cat maybe a couple years behind.

The second cat now stood up when they entered, tail reluctantly untangling from the sleeping one’s tail, and with a index finger to his lips, almost obscuring his tiny head behind that, he lead the two out of the room.

“This is Luhan,” Jongdae whispered to Tao. Even that low level of volume seemed to offend the cat. Luhan glared at Jongdae, who cringed in repercussion and mouthed a silent ‘sorry’ while they closed the door. Tao took a moment to look around the kitchen they’d entered, his stomach already hungry even though he’d eaten just a few hours before.

Luhan made sure the door was securely shut before he turned around and with blinding smiles introduced himself happily.

“Hi, I’m Luhan.”

“I just told him your name,” said Jongdae.

“Yes, but I didn’t. You must be Tao. Sorry I wasn’t here to welcome you. I was just… well, Minseok was a little sick this morning and I wanted Yixing to look at him first.”

Tao blinked, and then realized the sleeping one must have been this Minseok.

“How is he?” Jongdae asked.

“Fine, apparently,” Luhan shrugged, like he understood the words, but didn’t wish to believe it. “Can’t be too careful though, you know… He’s old. I should probably go back to him soon…”

Jongdae chortled. “Let him rest, Luhan. If Yixing said he’s fine, then he’s fine. He can sleep perfectly nicely without you next to him for a few moments.”

“But…”

_“He’s fine.”_

“I know, but… oh okay.” Luhan looked back at Tao, partly embarrassed, but then he smiled again. “Welcome to the family!”

 

 

 

{The Outsider's Game}

 

Kyungsoo was well aware of the commotion in the house signaling the arrival of the ‘kitten’, which Jongdae had informed him the new cat was to be called, whatever its name. ‘Kitten’ meant giving up another corner of their shared bedroom, of which Kyungsoo didn’t like but he could live with, if mainly because it meant another person to hopefully annoy Jongdae given some time.

The transition also meant a new change in the house dynamic, and after their latest addition—Kai, one year ago—that was a little worrying. And yet Yixing had visited them all some days before giving them ample notification and promising a cat with a good and friendly disposition, well loved and well spoken for.

“Then what is he coming here for?” Kai had complained at the time.

The cat’s master had died, Yixing explained, and Tao’s future had long been included in the man’s will, discussed well in advance of his death with Yixing to ensure Tao would be looked after when he was gone. That made Tao a hundred times more blessed than most cats ever were in all their lives.

The thought brought a prickle of tears to Kyungsoo’s eyes. He never had a master, never had an owner, and he’d never ever seen the outside of the compound he was raised in, or the animal adoption agency he was moved to briefly before its government shut down. Not until he moved to the shelter. Kai said he was lucky, that he never had to experience such horror, of being at the beck and call of human beings. Minseok as well always seemed to revert into a daze when he tried to pry into his past. Neither one ever said why though. Kyungsoo didn’t doubt they’d both had less than pleasant experiences, yet there was a part of him that yearned for something other than the life he had now. Twenty five, free, for all intents and purposes, at least as much as a cat could have the world, which wasn’t much. But he felt like he hadn’t _lived_. The shelter only denoted a passage of time in his life, he decided: some immediate companionship of like creatures, but he shouldn't think of it as the end all for his life. He still craved something more.

A few clicks of his computer brought up the page he wanted. Kyungsoo paused for a moment, trained his ears for any coming sounds, and once he was certain Jongdae had taken the new cat elsewhere first, he calculated he had a few more minutes at least to check his blog.

 

_No New Notifications_

 

“Damn.”

He’d been so certain that his latest rounds of inquiries would bring in some hits. So many messages sent out, and he’d finally been invited to the join the private message boards. Still no replies.

For fun, or because he had nothing else to do, he stared blandly at his profile description.

 

Name: Do Kyungsoo

Race: Feline

Gender: Male

Age: 25

Status: Free

Hobbies: Reading, Movies, Cooking, Singing, Sleeping

 

“I’m so lame,” he muttered to himself. Then, “It’s my age. It’s my goddamn stupid age.”

 

 

 

Luhan’s welcome was short-lived, Tao noted. Halfway through his tour of the kitchen (with Jongdae promising him meal duties once he was settled in) he watched the older cat slinking out of the room, and assumed he was going back to the sleeping Minseok. Jongdae let him go this time without a word of complaint until the door was shut behind him, and even then he sounded more amused than anything.

“Can’t separate those two for long.” He nodded to himself, like it were the most mundane of facts.

“Have they… been together long?”

“Luhan and Minseok? Comparatively so. Minseok was one of Yixing’s first rescue cats six years ago. Nobody knows his story or where he came from except for Yixing, and probably Luhan. And they don’t tell much. Luhan came second - you can ask him sometime about his story, he’ll probably tell you. All I know is that they basically bonded since that time and now… well, you kind of see how they are now.”

“Is he really old? Minseok?”

“He’s thirty something,” Jongdae answered simply. “Luhan makes him out to be an ancient, but truthfully he’s still got a few years left in him.”

“I see.”

He didn’t get much of an opportunity to ask more about his fellow companions. Jongdae ran a tight tutorial on kitchen duties, where specific types of food were kept, where the dishes go when they’re dirty or clean, how the house basically runs in a ‘fend for yourself’ kind of way, but still, courtesy and tidiness should be applied. He explained how cats, and therefore their hybrid counterparts, can live in most any condition, but here they needed to rely on each other more than most.

Tao was beginning to feel a bit lightheaded; and also, homesick.

_When is nap time?_ he almost asked.

Instead, he only yawned, politely covering his mouth like his parents had taught him. Jongdae caught the infection too and yawned even wider, without such delicacy. Tao’s eyes closed and his tail twitched, a hand outstretched flat on the surface of the nearest counter. A few moments went by while they stood there, neither looking at the other in the momentary haze of their own little worlds. Through the window over the sink Tao caught a hint of movement in the backyard, but nothing disturbed the peace and quiet of the room except the buzzing of a fly. Then Jongdae snapped his head up.

“So where was I again? Oh yes, let’s finish our tour.”

They met Kyungsoo halfway snoozing in the den at a computer desk. Tao decided he was one of the tiniest cats he’d seen yet, with black tufts of hair on his head and tail bushier than most. He trained large oval eyes at the two when they entered, and very quickly his hand clicked away at a window on the screen. The page minimized before they could see, leaving up only a lonely game of solitaire.

Languidly he unfurled his feet from underneath himself, and without getting up, swiveled around to face them.

“Kitten?” He asked.

“This is Tao,” Jongdae informed him. “So if the kitten you’re referring to is him, then yes.”

Kyungsoo sniggered, his lips scrunching up cutely until his smile bubbled over. “I know, Jongdae, you don’t have to remind me. Hi Tao, happy to meet you. I would get up but the chair’s too comfy to move. Have a seat though.” He waved to a tattered cushioned love seat with an ample amount of pillows.

“Pleased to meet you," Tao replied. He gratefully took a seat and immediately laid his head inert on the arm of the couch.

“My goodness, have you put him through a marathon? Kitten looks exhausted already,” said Kyungsoo.

“I haven't!” Jongdae cried.

Tao tried his best to claim otherwise. “Oh, I'm not... that sleepy.” He wasn't sure he was very persuasive though. Marathon or not, it had been a long drive here and a stressful morning trying to adjust.

Jongdae pat Tao's head, sat down on the other side of it and crossed his arms. He stared curiously at Kyungsoo.

“The chair’s too comfy, or you’re doing something weird on the computer again… Hmm, I wonder which it is?”

Kyungsoo flushed. “I— I wasn’t doing anything.”

“Yeah, right. So you’re just playing solitaire, huh?”

“Y-yes.” There was a definitive note along that word, that sadly fooled nobody.

Jongdae scoffed, knowing Kyungsoo better than that. With one foot he nudged at Tao’s nearly sleeping form.

“Hey, kitten.”

“Hmm?”

“Don’t fall asleep on us here. You’re my roommate and I gave you the tour, so back me up here. Didn’t you see him close something down really fast when we got here?”

Tao blinked, then realized Kyungsoo was staring at him too, and gone was the sweet look from before. That’s when he remembered who his other roommate was.

He chuckled softly, and yawned again. Speaking slowly, “Sorry, but didn’t you say Kyungsoo sleeps with us too? No offense but he looks scarier than you do right now…”

Jongdae kicked him this time, harder than before, but Tao rather liked the attention. So, it seemed, did Kyungsoo. The cat laughed and Jongdae pouted, and Tao smiled to himself.

“I’m going to like this kitten,” he heard Kyungsoo say, and then he nodded off to sleep.

 

 

It was a doorbell ringing that finally woke him up, long into the afternoon and early evening. Tao rolled over, nearly falling off the love seat which was honestly a little too short for his long legs. Doorbells had always made him happy though, in his other home. They brought guests and visitors, and generally his master only had nice people over. People who liked cats and fawned over Tao. With a lurch he realized he would probably never see those people ever again.

Still though, it was a friendly sound.

He rolled off the couch, stretching his body, and realized that he was alone. Kyungsoo’s computer had long since gone to sleep, and Jongdae wasn’t to be seen. A part of Tao wanted to stay in the den and wait to be found. But this was his home too now. He had every right to wander about as much as he wanted, or so he decided. He followed the sounds of voices down the hall.

Humans. He smelled them first. He saw them second, peaking his head around the door frame that lead into the main living area. Minseok, he saw, was finally awake though he was still slumped into the couch with Luhan attached to his hip. Jongdae had joined them on the ground at their feet, with Minseok lazily scratching his head. The humans sat across from them, one bored while the other talked animatedly with Kyungsoo.

They stopped when they caught Tao creeping.

“Oh, there he is,” said the older man delightedly. Jongdae swung his head around.

“Kitten! Come on out. You look like you’re about to be punished for spying.”

“Sorry,” Tao muttered, wiping his eyes. “I was… sleeping.” He found a tall stool in the corner close to the doorway and he pulled himself on top of it cross-legged. It was a good enough perch that he could see the whole rest of the room. His favorite kind of place.

“Yes, we know,” said Kyungsoo with a titter.

The man laughed as well, amiably. “Well I _did_ come to a house full of cats. Honestly, I’m always surprised when I visit and find half of you are still actually awake.”

Kyungsoo scowled. “Cut it out. That’s a stereotype, and we’re not all bums.”

The man waved him affectionately. “Says the cat who lists ‘sleeping’ as one of his hobbies…Yes, yes. I’ll shut up. Anyways, let’s hear from the kitten. What’s your name, huh?”

“Tao, sir.”

Kyungsoo and Jongdae laughed again. “You don’t have to ‘sir’ him. He’s just our neighbor,” said Kyungsoo.

“Ahh, but our kitten is so timid!” cried Jongdae.

Tao was beginning to feel like if he didn’t start sticking up for himself, Jongdae would probably walk all over him. Kyungsoo too, if he let him. He didn't trust that little one, though he found him completely adorable. Tao eyed the man warily, but like so many of the visitors he’d met before, he seemed genuinely interested in cats and what they had to say. He estimated he wasn't yet forty in human years, a youngling compared to his late owner, but he had a genial face and something about him asked for respect, even if Kyungsoo didn't seem to give it to him. Nor Jongdae.

“My apologies. If you tell me your name, then I won’t call you sir, if you don’t call me kitten?” he bargained. Then he smiled in what he knew was a winning smile, pleased when the man reacted in just the way he should: surprise and amusement. Tao practiced that expression in the mirror all the time when he was a younger. Adoration usually followed that reaction, given some time.

The man had a hearty laugh. “Ahh, fine fine! I’m Joonmyun, and yes I'm the neighbor, though I've worked with cats for many, many years. Nice to meet you. It’s your first day here, I’m told. How do you find the others?”

“The others? They’re okay.”

“Just okay?” Jongdae howled.

Still Joonmyun chuckled. “Yes, they’re a fine bunch of cats. I don’t see Kai though. Have you met him?”

“The prickly one,” Kyungsoo supplied.

Tao pretends to think for a second. “Kai? The one who threw a pillow at Jongdae’s head?”

“That’d be the one!” Kyungsoo cried.

“Hey, I hit back with it pretty good!”

The two cats bickered while Minseok, Luhan, Tao and the humans looked on, most of them amused.

“What a pack of kids…” Said the silent man. Tao had almost not paid him any attention since he came in, and he was just about inquire of the young man when Joonmyun looked around.

“But we’re missing someone, I think. Where’s your romping tomcat this evening?”

Kyungsoo put his fingers in his mouth and promptly whistled. Tao waited expectantly, suddenly remembering that Yixing said six cats lived in the house already, and he had only met five of them. Perhaps he might have been introduced before now if he hadn’t fallen asleep so quickly.

The sounds of a back door opening and slamming shut filled the living the room, and within moments entered a brown haired mess of a cat, dirt and dust coating his body, and an irritable scowl.

He stomped into the room and glared at those assembled, honing in on Kyungsoo in particular.

“Did you just… whistle for me, like I was a dog?”

No insult could have been worse, not that Kyungsoo seemed to mind it. He stood his ground boldly while the cat glared at him, eyes fuming and furious, and it was such a huge contrast to his appearance otherwise, most notably to his tiny stature, the streaks of dirt on his nose, and the handful of weeds still clenched in his hand.

“I’ll deal with you later,” the cat warned. Then he eased up, greeted the two humans, eyed Tao with some interest, and just when Tao thought he might turn bubbly and introduce himself, he scowled again.

“Birds! I hate them! They’re destroying my garden! I want them all dead!”

“Oh, here we go again,” moaned Kyungsoo.

Jongdae giggled. “Baekhyun, it’s not birds… It’s most likely a bug problem. I told you to get some bug spray…”

“It’s not bugs. It’s birds! They’re eating my plants. Look! Look at my lemon grass! It’s destroyed!”

He held up the batch of green fronds, and the company in the living room all sighed in various ways. Tao could tell it would take a good bit of persuasive reasoning to make Baekhyun believe that the sickly looking plants weren’t being singled out by birds, but as he hadn’t yet made proper introduction, he kept his mouth shut.

The cat marched unhappily back outside, dragging Jongdae with him and Kyungsoo followed to give him more torment. Tao remained, unsure if he should follow or not. Minseok made no move to get up of course. If anything he’d sunk further into the cushions and his eyes were closed except for the tiniest slit, signifying he was still awake and amused. It was Luhan this time who was completely passed out.

Joonmyun also followed the cats out back, chuckling as he went, though he gave Tao a proper welcome to the neighborhood handshake as he passed by, and Tao realized eerily, a little late, that he was basically alone now with the second human who had hardly said a word all evening.

He didn’t laugh, nor did he motion like he was going to get up. He looked rather like he wanted to go home, or that he wished he wasn’t here at all, and for a human, the strenuous pull of his nose looked very much like a cat disgruntled with its surroundings.

Until he looked at Tao, and squirmed.

Tao didn’t even realize he was staring until the man caught him looking. First came surprise, and when he realized Tao wasn’t going to look away — Tao was too surprised himself to even think of backing down— the man smirked, and a challenge was born. He inclined his head one tick to the side. Tao copied the angle. He honed his eyes, pupils dilating and growing wider. Tao followed suit. He blinked twice, and Tao blinked three times.

He’d started to enjoy this game with the unnamed stranger, and they hadn’t yet broken eye contact. They held the stare, five seconds, ten seconds, twenty… In slow motion the stranger parted his lips and stuck out his tongue, sensuously rubbing along the top of his lips, daring Tao to do the same.

He almost did. But something about the action caused Tao to believe the man was making fun of him now. Tao opened his mouth, but shut it almost immediately, frowning.

The stranger gave up the game. He snorted and rolled his eyes, and Tao knew he’d been correct. It made him a little bit sick to his stomach, and all he desperately wanted right now was to bound away to another spot, preferably where he couldn’t be seen and drown himself in his humiliation in private.

The stranger pushed himself up off the couch, eyes raking over the embarrassed cat one last time and as he made for the back door, Tao heard distinctly, at a volume most definitely, deliberately made to be overheard, _“Cats… I hate cats.”_

Tao was miserable. Still rooted to his stool, he pushed back the first wave of tears and wiped the second with the back of his hand. Rude humans he’d met before. People who had no idea how to talk to or deal with cats, he’d met those too. Even some who’d clearly been uncomfortable in the presence of a life sized, human-cat hybrid and seemed prepared to be attacked as if he were some kind of ferocious predator. They made him a little uncomfortable, but nothing beyond what he could handle, what he could be amused at. Never though had Tao been subjected to such mocking, or to as much disdain as the man tonight had given him. It struck his heart in a fierce way, and this, combined with his first day in a new environment set him over the edge.

He pushed back his tears nearly as fast as they’d come, afraid he might come back and mock him some more. Cautiously he looked around, but the others still hadn’t returned, nor did it look like they would any time soon.

Luhan still snoozed. The other, however, was looking at him. Tao realized Minseok must have seen everything, but before he had a chance to become embarrassed again, the old cat spoke.

“Shush shush. Don’t mind that one.”

“That one?” Tao whimpered. “Who is he?”

“A dog lover,” joked the cat. His voice was higher pitched than Tao expected, a little gravelly but still melodic, soothing. “No, he just isn’t fond of cats. Any kind of cat. Strange, that Yixing’s son wouldn’t have much in the way of his father. He comes by every now and then on his dad’s errands, but most of us just ignore him. You'll learn to do that too. Sehun. That’s his name.”

 

 

{Raining Humans and Dogs}

 

By the end of the first week, Tao started to feel more at home in the house and around the other cats. He slept where he wanted, dozed where he wanted, was chatty in the mornings, helpful throughout the afternoon, a bum in the early evening, and hyper the rest of the night.

Jongdae praised him for his quick transition, though the way Tao understood it, between Jongdae and himself only Kai had come to the shelter, and Kai was apparently still as moody this day as he was the day he’d first arrived. Tao avoided him on principle, not because the cat was mean, but because he never quite knew what to make of Kai’s acid replies or his cynical discussion topics about ownership and the lives of cats in general. The topic frankly depressed Tao, and he’d rather not think much about it.

The funny thing about Kai though was how normal he seemed most days. Sipping his tea in the mornings, lounging on the patio throughout the day (when he wasn’t passed out on his own bed), he might have been any other middle aged cat dawdling around through life. He looked so young and carefree, until you looked into his eyes. Or until he opened his mouth.

“So tell me, kitten. Did you spend a lot of time ironing your master's shirts? Because I have a few of mine that could do with some darning--”

_Smack!_ Came Kyungsoo's hand across the back of Kai's head. The tiny cat exited as quickly and as casually as he'd entered, deaf to Kai's howling, and Tao escaped fast as he could. It was always like this with Kai, and no amount of sympathy Tao unknowingly mustered for the cat made him actually want to stay in his presence for very long.

Tao was much happier outdoors playing around with Baekhyun in the garden. Baekhyun was equally as small as Kyungsoo, but what he lacked in size and stamina he made up for in energy, especially when he was outside. He almost never came inside except at mealtimes and sometimes to sleep at night if the weather was bad. Otherwise he was elbow and knee deep in his plants or dozing on a hammock Joonmyun had kindly donated to the house.

The garden itself was a wonder, Tao learned, when he first ventured out on a tour with Baekhyun.

“Plum tree, peach tree, orange tree, lemon bush, that twig there will hopefully grow apricots one day,” Baekhyun explained. “But here! Here is the feast of feasts!”

It was a wonder there was any place left for grass with the way Baekhyun lined up the vegetable and herb garden wherever the yard wasn't covered in shade. With all the sprouts and plants, it was enough to make the house pretty much self-sustainable for produce at least. And of course, the herb garden was Baekhyun's pride and glory.

“My precious lemongrass!” Baekhyun cooed. He squatted on the ground to observe the stalks, hands brushing through the tall grass lovingly.

Since the night of Tao's arrival, Baekhyun still steadfastly refused to believe that bugs were a problem, and absolutely refused to spray for them. Once Jongdae had ascertained that his reluctance didn't come from any aversion to the use of natural chemicals itself though, Tao caught him out there the next day sneaking a few sprays at the plants. Jongdae had winked when caught, gone on with his task, and so Tao didn't bother telling. Baekhyun was happier a few days later, and that's all that mattered.

“I could stay out here _all the time_ for the _rest of my life!”_ Baekhyun cried, one day. He was laying down on his back, eyes closed, in the space between rows of herbs. After half an hour of teaching Tao some little tricks of the trade, he invited the kitten to take a rest as well. With both of them covered in dirt and sweat, Tao happily sunk to the ground as well. A waft of mint (just one kind of at least half a dozen planted varieties) teased his nostrils.

“I don't know about all the time, but it's really nice out here,” Tao agreed.

Baekhyun chuckled at little. “You're young. Your life's still before you. Me? I like the easy living. Like now.”

Baekhyun was twenty six, Jongdae had told him. _“And don't ask him about his past unless you want to spend the next several hours listening to him boast about his 'great love'._ Former _great love,”_ he'd emphasized.

Tao still didn't have the guts to ask about it. He figured on a safer question to start with. “How long have you lived here then?”

Baekhyun mused, eyes still closed. “Nearly six years? I came a few months after Minseok and Luhan, I think. So, I was just a year older than you are now when I moved in.”

Six years. Tao could barely contemplate it. Six years ago he was half his height, and the only thing he'd had to worry about was romping about the estate and trying not to get into too much trouble (that anyone found out about). Six years from now, however... He realized he'd probably still be living in this place, just as devoted to gardening as Baekhyun was now, and probably tutoring some new 'kitten' on the ways of the world, whatever those were. He still wasn't even sure what cats were supposed to be in life, other than pets, and that definition - once so easy to consider - had started becoming fuzzier the more he learned from his new roommates. The fact that all of them had lived out their entire growing years in animal clinics or adoption agency compounds blew a fuse in Tao's mind. And they weren't any less mind-blown that Tao's childhood had been the opposite.

In a way, Tao's worldview had both exploded and shrunk, and he wasn't sure how much more of it he wanted to explore.

“I started learning gardening when I was eighteen,” Baekhyun continued to talk.

“Did you learn it at the agency?”

“The agency?” Baekhyun scoffed with a little laugh. “Of course not. Those places don't teach you anything worth knowing. No, it was at my first home. They had a small garden, lots of pretty plants. It was my first great love who taught me how to treat them, grow and nurture them. Ohh, those wonderful times in the garden...”

Tao accidentally let loose the flood gates.

“... oh the herbs! The flowers! The vines we grew together!”

Tao did some mental math. Baekhyun was eighteen when he must have been adopted out, and twenty when he came to the shelter. That left only two years in between...

Tao opened his eyes when heard the other choke out a small sob. He sat up on his elbows to glance at Baekhyun. No tears, but Baekhyun seemed caught in the place between delight over his memories, and whatever place he was at now.

“Gosh, those were the days...” Baekhyun sighed. Then he sat up, abruptly, smile back in place as he looked at Tao. “Shall we go prune the other vegetable garden now?” Tao nodded. “Okay, good! Oh, careful. Watch out where you step. You almost crushed the Valerian flowers there... Ah, okay. Come on now.”

Tao stepped guardedly through the rows of plants, big and small, suddenly realizing that for a cat's herb garden there was something obviously missing.

“Baekhyun, don't you grow any catnip?”

“Huh? Catnip? Oh...” Baekhyun turned and halted, scratching his head worryingly. “I don't anymore... Some of the... cats, uh, don't really like it.”

“How can they not like it?” Tao remembered distinctly his master telling him that no cat, real or hybrid, could resist its effects, like perfume for the soul. He was only allowed it for special occasions, and on those days he felt like heaven!

“They just, don't like how it effects them, you know... out of body experience... out of their control. I don't know really know why,” he concluded quickly, and Tao let the subject drop.

For dinner that night they had guests, not an entirely rare occurance, as Tao was beginning to learn. Earlier in the week Yixing had come by, thankfully without his dispirited son Sehun, and Tao was praised and fawned over by him while the rest of the cats gushed about how nice he was to have around. Tao had taken some serious effort into charming the housemates, all of whom, except for Kai, had fallen at his feet.

Tonight though it was Joonmyun who visited. He'd been around often enough throughout the week, citing loneliness as his main reason. But Tao noticed that he made himself rather handy about the place, fixing small things or bringing them food. Once he even managed to obtain a five minute private interview with Kai. The cat came out later on looking a little less stressed. They found out the reason over the dinner table.

“Have you told them, Kai?” Joonmyun posed in the middle of the meal. Minseok and Luhan had taken their food to their room, so that just left Baekhyun, Kyungsoo, Kai, Jongdae and Tao around to entertain their guest.

Kai paused, fork halfway to his mouth and looked around embarrassed. “No.”

“Oh? How come?”

“Slipped my mind.”

Joonmyun tutted disappointed. “Oh come now, Kai. Won't hurt to tell everyone now. What's to be shy about?”

Baekhyun suddenly clattered his utensils down onto the tabletop. He gasped loudly. “Ohhh! You're not...! You two! Are you? Oh my God, are you moving out? Does that mean I can have my own bedroom now?”

Kyungsoo also dropped his fork with a loud clank onto the floor.

“What, Baekhyun? No!” Kai roared. “Why does your brain always turn that way, huh?”

“What? How can you blame me for that? You being so secretive and all...”

“Blame that head of yours! Always making conclusions...” Kai's words muttered off into near silence though his lips still grumbled something incoherent.

Jongdae drummed his fingers against the table, semi-patiently. “So, what is it?” he asked.

Kai looked up to a table with all eyes on him. Finally he spoke. “Joonmyun... uhm... he found me a job.”

A chorus of cheers went up, all enthusiastic. Tao raised his eyebrows slightly, not having realized cats could even join in the workforce. It suddenly made him nervous. With his young age, would he be expected to contribute somehow? No one else in the house did though.

“Good job, Joonmyun!” Baekhyun cheered. “So what'll it be, Kai? Flipping burgers at that joint down the street?”

Kai scoffed. “No, I won't be flipping burgers!”

“It's an office job,” Joonmyun explained.

Again Kai scoffed, but he looked less put off than he sounded. “Sort of an office job. Front desk job, answering phones and stuff. Just basic level stuff.”

“Do you have to wear a suit?” Kyungsoo asked.

“Why, will you iron my shirts if I do?”

“Just. Asking,” Kyungsoo quipped.

The news that Kai would be working now, half days from morning until afternoon at a small publications office for local community news fliers, unsettled Tao more than he first realized. He cornered Joonmyun later that evening as the man was beginning to leave.

“Tao? What is it?”

“Can I talk to you about... something?”

Joonmyun smiled in his typical reassuring way, patted Tao on the shoulder, and said, “Sure. Why don't you walk with me?”

They were two houses away from the shelter, and still two houses from Joonmyun's home when Tao finally spoke again. “Joonmyun, do I have to work for my keep? Like Kai?”

Joonmyun laughed lightly. “What makes you think that? Didn't Yixing tell you not to worry about anything when you came here?”

“He did. I'm just... wondering?”

“Feeling a bit useless now?”

“A bit.”

“Well don't feel that way. You're a cat. It should have been somebody else's responsibility, and you, my friend, are lucky that your master planned for your well-being after his death.”

It was the first Tao had heard of this. “He did?”

“Of course. He and Yixing were old friends. That's why he came and got you, otherwise you'd have been sent to an agency.” Joonmyun immediately stopped when Tao did, blistering at the words. Agency. “Hey now, calm down. Look if you ever do get restless and want to do something temporary like Kai, then come to me or Yixing. Otherwise, relax and enjoy yourself. It's not an easy life, but it's a lot nicer than some.”

“How come Kai wants to work?”

“Because he doesn't like the illusion of being indebted to somebody,” Joonmyun said simply. They'd arrived at the edge of the sidewalk leading up to Joonmyun's front door and Tao hung his head.

“Okay then. I'll let you know.”

“Don't fret about anything, Tao. The cats like you a lot, I can tell. They'll help you. They probably can more than some humans anyway. You've come to a good place.”

Tao nodded. “Thank you.”

“Good. Alright, can you walk back four houses all by yourself or should I go back with you and then I'll be scared to walk home alone again, and we can repeat this all night?”

They laughed, and Tao assured him he could get back plenty fine.

“Watch out for dogs!” Joonmyun called, still laughing.

“They should watch out for me!” Tao hollered back.

 

 

Baekhyun slept out again, Kai noticed when he woke up the first morning he was to start work. 'Out' meant he probably passed out outside in the grass again, or at least in his hammock. It happened often, and Kai was totally fine with that. The less people who disturbed him during those first crucial waking moments (which sometimes dragged on for hours), the happier Kai was. This morning, however, he slammed off his alarm instead of Baekhyun's head, and realized sadly, resolutely, that he was going to have to get used to this. Work meant schedule, and schedule meant waking up regularly and on time.

Twenty minutes later he was dressed in a nice button up shirt and a new pair of slacks baggy enough to conceal his whitish-blond tail. Kai took a moment to look at himself in the full length mirror behind the door, an accessory Baekhyun had insisted they needed. He grimaced and made a face at himself, frowning, then smiling, then frowning again. How did one make a pleasant expression anymore? He couldn't remember, but once he'd coaxed himself into a normal looking face, he was mostly satisfied with his appearance. If you just ignored his cat ears, he might could pass for human. Most hybrids could. It was the thing humans simultaneously loved and feared.

He met the kitten at the bottom of the stairs, his hand on the front door to go out. Tao didn't speak to him. Now that Kai thought about it, Tao never initiated a conversation with him first. Possibly he was too gruff with the kitten, but it's not like he had time to really care about that. He was actually a little sad the kitten had stopped reacting to all his attempts to rile him up.

“Morning, Tao,” he said stiffly. The cat blinked at him, pausing with the door cracked open a few inches. “Soo... what's for breakfast?”

Kai wondered if his 'pleasant' expression had already worn off. By the look on Tao's face, it must have.

“Jongdae made oatmeal...”

“Fantastic. I hate oatmeal.”

Neither one moved, and that included himself, Kai realized suddenly. He had actually paused to talk to Tao. Surely there must be something wrong with him now, and it had nothing to do with his dislike for oatmeal.

“You ate it two days ago,” Tao insisted.

“Yeah, I hated it then too. Are you going out?”

“Just to water some flowers.”

“Oh. Well, I'm going to eat now.”

“Okay...”

Kai moved on before the kitten could make him feel any more awkward. It was probably the first time Kai hadn't said a mean thing to him, and that left a weird taste in his mouth, weirder still than the taste of halfway charred oatmeal left over in the bottom of the pan. How come Kyungsoo couldn't cook on the first day he started work?

Tao was still out front when he started down the sidewalk. The office was only a four block trek, part of the reason why it was so desirable for Kai. He pulled out a beanie from his back pocket and pulled it over his head.

“Why are you wearing that when it's not really cold outside?” Tao asked. He stood up from where he'd been crouched over a patch of flowers next to the bushes that lined their yard. As soon as he spoke though, Kai could see his brain working fast. “Ohh” Tao said, without waiting for an answer. He put both hands to his cat ears, when he realized Kai had just concealed his own.

“It... might be cold in the office I'm going to work in,” Kai lied.

“Got it. I got it,” Tao said. “Uhm, have a good day?”

“Is that what you used to say to your master when he left each day?” Kai taunted. He didn't even know why he said the words.

“No...”

“No?”

“No, because... he didn't go to work.”

“Oh.” Retired, old. That's right, Kai thought. The man was rich and retired. He wouldn't need to work, not like Kai needed to. He decided to forgo this grand farewell and get back on track on the road to work.

Except he didn't make it far.

He heard the sound of small beasts before he saw them. His ears were quick to pick up things like that. So too was his nose, and the stench that suddenly filled his nostrils filled him like a gallon of gas of fear. He lurched on the spot, debating whether he could run away fast enough or if he should turn on the dot and make a break for the safety of the house.

“Kai?” he heard. “Kai, what's wrong?”

He was paralyzed, knowing at any minute he could be mauled but his feet wouldn't move. At the very last second, he darted behind Tao's taller form, a hand catching Tao around the stomach as he swung behind him. It was a brilliant solution, to let Tao take the brunt of the attack. But it wasn't, because the kitten was just a kitten and how could it take such a thing and live to tell the tale?

“Kai, what's the matter? Why are you... hiding behind me?”

 

 

Tao remained clueless until the yapping of small dogs assaulted his ears, and he looked down to see three little poodles running across the lawn at him, two brown and one white.

“Puppies!” Tao cried.

From behind him Kai screamed and ducked in fright. Tao tried to move, but Kai had him pinned by the pull on his ankles. He kicked one of the hands away, and using his one freed foot as leverage squatted down in time for the puppies to reach him. The barked and yipped and licked his hands, their connected leashes trailing across the grass behind them. Tao had barely the opportunity to pet each one and elbow the terrified Kai behind him before a pair of feet crossed his visage and he looked up.

Sehun peered down at him, with a smirk that looked almost disappointed.

Tao swallowed his dislike and made no move to get up. Both knees sunk into the grass anyway, and the puppies slobbered all over him. Kai still quivered behind him. “Are these _your_ dogs?” he asked coldly.

“Yeah, sorry the leash slipped out of my hands.”

There was that tone again, that look that made Tao believe Sehun was just playing a game with him, with them.

“Jerk. You did that on purpose!” came Kai's roar.

Sehun sniggered. “Is it my fault they're so strong they yanked the leash out of my hands? The scent of cats or something. It's worse even than catnip probably is to you.”

Kai drew a loud breath, and since Sehun hadn't done it yet, Tao stood up to his full height - silently gleeful that he had just the advantage over Sehun in this area - then he bent down to retrieve the puppies' leash himself. “Cute dogs. Shame they're too fierce for you to handle.” He offered the rope handle to Sehun, and the other had no choice but to take it back. He turned in place, and with one hand behind his back, he slyly maneuvered Kai to move around with him until Kai was on the street side of the yard, and Tao blocked the ferocious puppies. Kai got the hint and quickly made his leave.

Without him there, Tao suddenly felt very alone, even if the dogs still assembled at his feet and one of them laid down completely on his foot.

“I didn't think you'd be a dog person. Aren't most cats terrified of them?”

“So that's why you brought them over?” Tao questioned.

Sehun shrugged. “I had something to do over here and I figured I might as walk them while I was out.”

Tao narrowed his eyes suspiciously. “I grew up with dogs bigger than this. Why are you here?”

“House stuff.”

“House stuff?”

“Yes.” He refused to elaborate. “Can I put the dogs in the back yard? Or would you like me to take them in through the house?”

Tao thought about it for a moment. He knew Baekhyun was out back in the garden, and that he might take offense to small animals running through his plants, but then again there were four cats indoors and Tao had no idea how any of them might react to dogs. If they were anything like Kai, then not too well. He decided Baekhyun was the best match for the animals.

“Sure. Backyard. We can see how well Baekhyun puts up with them.”

 

 

{Can I Call You Kitten?}

 

There wasn't much in life that could phase Minseok. He was too old and and too worldly to be bothered with such things anymore, and that included little puppies yapping at his feet in the backyard. Sehun's dogs had always been a menace to the cats' home, an outward and loud embodiment to Sehun's otherwise cold and quiet personality. While most of the cats easily ignored their guardian's son, the dogs were another matter entirely, especially if your name was Kai, Kyungsoo, Jongdae or Luhan. Minseok had already heard about the commotion with Kai earlier. The others, with the exception of one, were already hiding in the house while the puppies barked up a fuss.

Minseok yawned unhappily. All he wanted to do was sleep in under the warm morning sun on the back patio, and it seemed that without some sort of intervention he wouldn't get his nap at all. Stealing his features into his favorite look of stone cold mannequin, his tail dangled tantalizingly over the side of the bench, perfect bait for the first brown puppy to trot over and sniff it. He waited. It came. Animals were so gullible. Minseok opened his mouth and the puppy yowled away in terror from Minseok's calculated hiss. Curling his tail back under him again, he closed his eyes finally in peace, confident they wouldn't bother him again.

Unfortunately sleep continued to elude him, thanks mostly to the quavering form of Luhan practically blanketed behind him on the already too small bench - Luhan refused to be separated from him, even in spite of his terror of the little pests - and Baekhyun's shouts for the dogs to get out of his herb garden. Minseok watched lazily as the brown cat bristled in mock confidence and chased the puppies away time and time again. After the third attempt, the puppies finally found something else in the yard to check out, and Baekhyun sunk to the ground to recover himself, cursing Sehun as per usual.

The source of their woes was inside the house doing his usual thing: sitting on the couch while he 'supervised' resident handyman Chanyeol's work on the bathroom plumbing problems. He'd foot the bill when Chanyeol was done, and add it to his father's tab. Another reminder of all the things the cats had to be grateful for in life. If it was anyone other than Yixing helping to provide for them, Minseok would feel burdened, however knowing as he did - as all the cats did - that Yixing's benevolence came from the depths of his heart, and that no reparations would ever be asked for, or even hinted at, the cats were calm. They loved Yixing as a friend, and not just as a guardian. At least some of that extended residually to the people who worked for him, even if that came in the form of his son Sehun. As to the boy himself, they were largely indifferent, especially Minseok. He'd known him for much of the last six years, and Minseok found some small ounce of satisfaction that at least somewhat, Sehun's attitude had improved over time. At sixteen Sehun had been something of a reclusive brat.

_“Are you a catboy?”_ he'd asked Minseok the first time they met.

Minseok had bridled disdainfully, at the time still mercifully taller than the youth who would later shoot past him in height. _”Do I look like a 'boy' to you?”_

_“No.”_

_“Well there you have it.”_

They'd had the same pleasant relationship ever since.

Out of curiosity, Minseok craned his neck around and peered through the open curtain into the living room. Sehun sat on the couch, not minding anyone but playing on his phone. Typical of kids these days, Minseok scoffed to himself. Every now and then Sehun would get up and walk over to the bathroom, nominally playing his role as overseer. Not that Chanyeol needed one. None of the cats would get anywhere near a room that held a threat of free-flying water, but the twenty-eight year old maintenance guru needed no assistance, and he was such a familiar sight in the home that even Kyungsoo had had time to get used to the man's overuse of familiar terms and casual petting.

Chanyeol liked people, that was certain. He loved chatting and socializing on the job. He knew everybody in the neighborhood, and gossiped freely though somewhat guardedly; a rare mix. He wouldn't give away just anyone's secrets after all. He was a people person, to put it succinctly. But he loved cats. Minseok had no doubt that Chanyeol didn't charge nearly as much for his services as he could have done. Maybe this was a form of charity work for Chanyeol, but it's not like any of them really minded, or had much of a choice. The cats weren't handy at all. Luhan broke nearly everything he touched, Jongdae had an irrational fear of electrical problems even before they happened, and Baekhyun required so much assistance crafting his outdoor paradise into a place fit for plants that they really couldn't live without the man. It was a Godsend when Chanyeol moved into the neighborhood five years ago and opened up a branch of a family friend's Shin's Repair Shop & More. At the very least they wouldn't have that fabulous patio table that Jongdae liked to snooze on day in and day out. Chanyeol built it from scratch out of the goodness of his heart. Luhan even claimed to have helped. The little liar.

“Minseok...” The shivering mass behind him pleaded. “Can we go in now please? Please?”

“The puppies aren't going to eat you, Lu,” he barely whispered.

“I- I know that. But they - I mean, aren't they bothering you? You won't be able to nap at this rate. Let's go inside, huh?” Luhan was stretched out behind him on the bench. It really wasn't meant for two people lengthwise but that never stopped Luhan. Luhan shook him gently, one arm propping him up and his head lying softly on Minseok's shoulder, the other hand delicately resting on Minseok's hip.

Minseok closed his eyes and purred. “I'm happy here. You go in if you're scared.”

“I- I'm not...”

“You go in,” he repeated softly.

Luhan didn't budge for a few moments, but at the next bark of a puppy from around the side of the house, Minseok felt him finally sit up and crawl across his body. He mashed him brutally before hopping off the bench, then sadly entered the house. Minseok waited a whole extra minute before he too got up and followed him inside.

 

 

Tao came down the stairs searching for Jongdae, a pile of hand-me-down clothes in his arms. He met Sehun's glance while passing through the living room but pointedly ignored the man. The sounds of a scuffle in the kitchen called him in that direction. He found the sandy haired cat standing in the middle of the kitchen, hands on his hips and observing a portion of the counter he'd evidently just cleared of all devices and appliances.

“Jongdae?” Tao said to grab his attention.

Jongdae stared at the spot a moment longer, then turned his head and murmured. “What's up? What have you got there?”

“Clothes...” Tao sat the pile down on the island counter. He started to pull certain garments out of the pile. “Joonmyun dropped these off a few days ago. Said I could use them. But...”

“But? What's the problem. Have they been washed? I can add them to a load of my clothes I need to wash later.”

“No, it's not that.” Tao faltered. He hadn't closed the door connecting the kitchen to the living room where Sehun sat just out of eye contact. He could probably hear them. Tao tried lowering his voice a little. “These clothes are human clothes.” Jongdae stared at him, still confused about the problem. “They don't... they don't have room for a tail.”

And still Jongdae stared. Tao felt he must be missing something important here and he could feel his face start to color and blush. Jongdae laughed, not unkindly, but Tao still felt the stings of embarrassment and he tried in vain not to check to see if Sehun was witnessing this. He was. Tao could see him shift on the couch, veiled eyes glancing up from his phone and watching the two in the kitchen through the semi cover of his bangs.

Jongdae lifted the pair of pants out of Tao's hands. It was a nice pair of slacks, meant for someone slim and tall, exactly Tao's fit if Tao had only been human. Jongdae flipped them around to stare at the butt of the pants and chuckled some more. “If you want a hole for the tail, Tao, you have to make one. What have you been wearing all this time anyways?”

Tao blushed for real now. “I... I had clothes made for me before now.”

“You mean you had all your clothes tailored? _Tail_ ored? Hah.”

This time there was a definite snort from the living room. Tao hoped it was for Jongdae's horrid joke and not because of his ignorance. He suspected it might have been a little of both though.

“What... what do I do?”

“You rip the seam and sew it back,” Jongdae announced. “Easy easy. If you're Kyungsoo that is. Go ask him and he'll show you. He's handy with a needle. Just don't expect him to do all the work. He's mean like that. Shows you once and expects you to learn it on your own, but hey at least we all learn some skills.” Jongdae winked and dropped the pants back onto the pile, giving it a little nudge for Tao to take it away.

Tao picked up the pile and dodged Chanyeol just as the man entered the kitchen.

“Alright, Jongdae. Bathroom leak is fixed.”

“Chanyeol! Just the man I wanted to see.”

Chanyeol chuckled. “I figured. So what can I do for you in here?” He had to duck low underneath the ceiling lamp to avoid hitting his head, and then stood hovering over the a countertop, waiting for instructions. Tao froze, still holding up the clothes in his arms. They seemed to get a little heavier with each second and he wondered why he felt possessed to bring the whole stack down when all he could have brought was the one pair of pants. Now he had to go back through the living room past Sehun and his will to avoid that kept him rooted to the spot a moment longer. He was curious anyways about the problem in the kitchen.

Jongdae pointed towards the cleared counter. “That electrical socket is broken.”

Chanyeol nodded very slowly, but he didn't get up. “When did stop working?”

“Yesterday. But it worked today.”

“It did, huh?”

“Yes. I couldn't make toast yesterday but today the toaster worked just fine. I think it might be tripping up or something.”

“So you didn't have toast yesterday, but you had toast today?”

“That's what I just said...” Jongdae frowned.

“Any other plugs not working?”

“Nope. Just that one.”

“When did you get that toaster?”

Jongdae paused. “Excuse me?”

Righting himself from the counter, Chanyeol paced towards the appliance and jabbed at it a couple times. “When did you buy this toaster?”

“What's wrong with the toaster. It's only about four years old.”

Chanyeol smiled. “This cheap thing? It's nearly dead. Buy a new one. Or better yet, I have an almost new one laying around at home I don't use. I can bring it by. There's nothing wrong with the outlet.”

“How do you know that? You didn't even check it!” Jongdae fired up.

“I examined the systems of this house just two weeks ago when you thought something was wrong with the dishwasher. It's fine. But your toaster isn't.”

Jongdae blustered, and when Tao caught Jongdae's tail spiking in defiance he figured he'd take his chances crossing Sehun's path than stick around to witness the oncoming storm. He nearly tripped going out the doorway. A rolled up sock he hadn't known was there fell through his arms and landed on the ground. Sehun acknowledged it, but he didn't move. For a moment Tao thought of leaving it there, but then he'd just have to fetch it later. Juggling the clothes and his weight he hunched down and managed to snatch it up. Sehun's head was buried once again in his phone, so Tao darted out of the room before he could say anything.

Back in his room he deposited the clothes on his bed and thought about searching for Kyungsoo. The cat was probably hiding out in the den. He didn't know what the cat did all the time on his computer, but he was usually disgruntled when bothered. He'd save the tail-room-making endeavor for later, and since Jongdae was busy being a know-it-all, that just left Baekhyun and the garden.

He didn't quite make it outside.

“Hey, kitten!” He heard Jongdae call, the moment he reached the bottom of the stair landing.

Tao trudged obligingly into the kitchen again, following the call of the voice.

“Yes?”

“Help me out here,” Jongdae directed. “Take this toaster and plug it into all the spots in the kitchen.” He plopped the appliance into Tao's arms without further ado.

“Huh?” Tao gawked. “But I thought Chanyeol said it was old.”

“I _did_ , Jongdae. Plugging it in other places isn't going to fix it,” Chanyeol tried to patiently explain. He stood next to the smaller cat and attempted to ruffle the hairs on his head. Jongdae pulled away with a scowl.

Tao noticed belatedly that Sehun had also followed them into the kitchen, prior to Tao's entry. He sat right on surface of the counter in the farthest corner by the kitchen window, lording over the room with his height and silence. He didn't butt in to the argument, but he did look rather amused. He'd even put his phone down by his side to admire the view.

Before Tao could move, Chanyeol retrieved the toaster and held it teasingly over the trash can.

“Chanyeol, don't you dare!”

“Jongdae, it's busted!”

“It's not! It made toast just this morning. If you toss it now what are we going to eat for breakfast tomorrow morning?”

“Not toast?”

The two of them plus Tao stared incredulously at the person who'd spoken: Sehun, from his perch in the corner. He dipped his head as if to remark that it wasn't a big deal. Jongdae froze, licked his lips, then looked away and pointedly ignored him.

“I guess I can live without one for a couple days,” Jongdae finally admitted. “You said you'll bring one over soon? A new-ish one?” Chanyeol nodded, while Jongdae pretended to think about it. “Okay, then good.”

No one spoke and finally Jongdae started putting items back onto their regular counter spots, Tao jumping in to help. Chanyeol briefly pulled out a workman's notebook from his back pocket and wrote a few notes on it. He handed it to Sehun wordlessly and the younger man hopped off the counter top. He briefly looked over the receipt without comment, and had just pocketed it when another howl came from the backyard, probably Baekhyun's, and the the sound of the puppies again.

Jongdae stopped. “Tao, take this person...” he indicated Sehun, “out back and get him to take those dogs home before Baekhyun kills one and roasts it for dinner. Kai's stomach is sensitive and he doesn't like dog meat.”

Tao didn't dare to laugh, though Chanyeol did. Sehun only rolled his eyes but he followed Tao out of the kitchen anyways. Unfortunately for Tao, he dared to look backwards to see if Sehun would follow, and the hesitation caused his leg to bump into the island counter. A parcel of nesting plastic bowls fell off the counter with a loud smack and shot out across the floor, though nothing else followed and nothing was broken.

“Kitten, watch where you're going!” Jongdae called, surveying the bowls. Tao quickly bobbed down to pick them up, cursing his luck. The littlest bowl rolled right next to Sehun's foot. He figured he'd have to get that one too but Sehun surprisingly reached over and picked it up. He passed it into Tao's hands with a little smirk and Tao was _forced_ to thank him, softly, under his breath, unhappily.

He swore he even heard Sehun giggle again when they were back in the living room. Tao paused, hand on the back door and turned back to face the man. Sehun's lips pressed together at an angle, one corner pulling up once again in that unmistakable smirk Tao had come to recognize. He just had to ask him. Sehun's general silent treatment was all very well most of the time, but Tao just wasn't used to having to ignore people, even if the cats counseled him that that was best.

“Are you… laughing at me now?” He hoped his tone suggested casual curiosity. Tao really was just curious.

Sehun blinked once, then twice. Then he smiled.

“No? Oh, it’s just that before I came around this house, everywhere else ‘kitten’ is used as a cheesy endearment or something. Here it just means ‘Hey You’. Cats certainly are enlightening.”

Maybe Tao shouldn't have asked.

“Can I call you 'kitten'?” Sehun continued.

“No.”

“Kitten?”

“No.”

“But you just responded to it...”

“I'm still responding to your first question. The answer is still no. And you can just call me Tao.”

“So I can call you then?”

“What?”

The smirk was back, and with it a hollow laugh, and Tao really wished he hadn't started this. The dogs yapped again, followed by another one of Baekhyun's shrieks, and it was the perfect excuse to take the house rules and advice and ignore Sehun like he should have done from the start. He turned the handle of the door, but when a hand was laid on his shoulder, he jumped.

“Tao, wait.”

“Huh?”

“I actually am supposed to uhm... invite you over.” Sehun hesitated, and at Tao's bizarre look he added rather quickly. “My dad. He wants you to come over for dinner. Friday. He asked me to ask you since I was coming over...”

Tao scratched his own head, ignoring the puppies outside. “Just me?”

“Yeah, I think. Joonmyun will probably come too.”

“None of the other cats?”

“No? I think it's like a welcome thing. He does this for all the new comers, to see if they're settling in well and stuff. It's been a few weeks now, right? So... Friday?”

“Sure.”

“Good... I guess I'll tell my dad. Uhm...”

“Hey, Sehun? Let's go save your dogs, huh?”

“Oh. Oh, yeah.”

 

 

{What Kind of Adoption}

 

Joonmyun came to pick Tao up the Friday before their dinner date at Yixing's home. He rang the doorbell ominously, and because Tao was running late - he really didn't like the way his new pants fit around the tail - Kyungsoo opened the door.

"Hi," Joonmyun said when greeted with Kyungsoo's glowering. "I'm here for Tao."

Kyungsoo rolled his eyes and allowed the man to come in. "Perv," he muttered under his breath.

Joonmyun laughed uneasily. "I'm... just driving him over to Yixing's," he tried to explain.

Kyungsoo laughed. "Oh, I know. I remember the obligatory 'Hi, welcome to cat hell, and I hope you're fitting in nicely' dinner date." Joonmyun remained silent, awkwardly surveying the smallest cat with a half open grimace. "I guess I can leave you here now. Geez, why do you even ring the doorbell anymore? Don't you have a key? Making people get up to come and greet you like you're some prized guest." He turned lazily on his heels and disappeared through the living room. Joonmyun watched him round the corner into the hallway leading to the den, to Kyungsoo's computer, and he sighed.

Tao came finally, bounding down the stairs so fast he nearly tripped on the first step after the landing. "I'm coming! Sorry!"

Joonmyun smiled up at him. "Ready to go? You're not late. It's fine."

Together they walked the four houses back to Joonmyun's driveway to pick up his car. It was like Yixing's, a ratty old thing but it ran nicely and the inside was clean and smelled like a little like jasmine. Tao located the source of the scent hanging around the rear view mirror, a flower-shaped air freshener that swayed to and fro at every turn of the vehicle.

Yixing lived only four blocks away. Tao remembered that Sehun had walked to their place with his dogs that day, and asked Joonmyun why they hadn't done the same thing. The man chuckled and responded with the lame excuse, "Because I'm old!"

"You're not old for a human."

"I'm thirty seven. Old enough that I don't want to walk. Or rather, I don't want to walk home when we're done." He winked.

Yixing's home wasn't a grand affair. It sat squashed between two larger homes on either side, and was even smaller than the cats' home. The yard was a little overrun with weeds, and something that may once have resembled a rose garden still flourished, but without rhyme or reason. One rose bush touched the eaves the of the overhanging roof, another looked like it had been cut back so severely that it refused to grow back. The rest were a mixture of bushy or sparse. They seriously lacked the kind of attention he knew Baekhyun would give them, Tao thought. But then Joonmyun rang the doorbell, and a stern-looking woman with slightly graying hair opened the door for them.

"Evening, Jessica," Joonmyun said pleasantly.

"Evening," the woman returned, and her attempt at a smile slightly disarmed the otherwise cold expression as she beckoned Joonmyun and Tao into the house. "The men are out back. I just put the food on the dining table, so you can tell them it's ready to eat, okay?"

"Thank you very much, Jessica," Joonmyun said to her retreating form. He winced when Tao looked his way, and explained. "Yixing's sometimes housekeeper. He's useless taking care of himself, and he can't cook. Usually he and Sehun just fend for themselves, but on nice occasions he has her prepare the meal and... well, let's go find them and let them know dinner awaits. Shall we?"

Tao followed Joonmyun through the small, dark maze of a house. They found Yixing and his son sitting in the screened-off section of their backyard porch with barely a small strip of grass and one tree for scenery before the neighboring fence of the yard beyond hemmed them in. Sehun looked like he'd dressed up for the occasion with nice slacks and a striped blue and white button-up, wrinkled. His father had probably forced him to put something decent on. He slouched on a bench with his hands clasped behind his neck, his head resting against the outer sill of a window that was probably the bathroom. Yixing himself was a little more put together, and he stood up immediately to greet the two when they stepped down into the patio.

"Joonmyun! Tao! Welcome welcome. Sehun, get up and greet Tao."

"We've already met," Sehun reminded his father.

Yixing smiled and frowned at the same time. "Did you? Oh right. Right. Well come on in. I think dinner should be ready pretty soon. I had Jessica come by this afternoon to help put a meal together." He chuckled. "You know how I am in the kitchen, Joon. Jessica cooks much nicer than me."

Behind his back Sehun rolled his eyes and grimaced. Only Joonmyun and Tao caught it, and Joonmyun was too busy being polite not to mention it.

"I'm sure it'll be lovely, Yixing. Uhh, we met Jessica coming in. She said dinner was ready and to usher you guys in to eat."

"Did she? Perfect."

The meal was a roast that might have fed a dozen people. "At least we'll have leftovers," Sehun commented when they gathered round the table. Tao expected Yixing to take the seat at the foot of the table like his master did at every meal when they had people over, but Yixing sat on the side next to his son, and Tao and Joonmyun sat opposite. No one spoke for a moment, nor did they start dishing out the meal. Tao looked around confused until he saw Yixing looking at everyone in turn, and once he'd decided they were comfortably seated he bowed his head and thanked God for their meal. It was a long, half-minute grace, during which Tao kept his head bowed like everyone else and once or twice he peaked through his eyes to see everyone else with their eyes closed. Towards the end he stretched out his legs and accidentally met with Sehun's. He peaked again and saw Sehun looking back, expressionless. And then Yixing ended the prayer and they lifted their heads and everyone started to eat.

A few minutes into the meal during which Yixing and Joonmyun exchanged a series of small talk is when Yixing finally turned to Tao again. He smiled encouragingly. "So, Tao, are you fitting in nicely?"

Joonmyun smirked, but since Tao didn't know what that was supposed to mean, he answered as truthfully as he could. "Yes, sir. I think so."

"Good. I figured the cats would take care of you nicely. Tell me, who's the nicest? Or most helpful? I'm only curious."

Tao considered it for a moment. "Jongdae, I guess."

Yixing nodded knowingly. "I figured that would be the case. He's a good cat. Could do some great things with his life. In fact, Joon," Yixing suddenly addressed the other man. "I'm thinking of asking his help with one of my projects. He'd probably be pretty good around my kittens, wouldn't you agree?"

Joonmyun looked slightly taken aback as he considered whatever prospect only he and Yixing understood. But then he nodded. "Actually, you may be right."

"Yes, I think so," Yixing agreed with himself. He looked at Tao then and another spark of interest caught fire in his eyes. "Ahh, and maybe Tao too?"

Joonmyun considered him for a moment, and Tao looked between them both, baffled. Sehun didn't even bother paying attention to the flow of the conversation.

"Perhaps, he might," Joonmyun said. "Poor Tao, you don't even know what we're volunteering you for."

Yixing laughed. "Oh, it's not obligatory, Tao. Just something if you were interested."

Joonmyun continued the explanation himself. "Well you know how Yixing and I work for the feline relations branch of the government. Most of it is social work, rescuing or placing adult cats like yourselves in places they'll be well looked after. Well, for a while now Yixing has been working on another project for underage cats. Adoption, basically. Only it would treat hybrid kittens not like pets, but like real children in the system. Hybrids as children with real parents who want to adopt and raise them."

Joonmyun paused to take a drink, and Tao's eyes grew wide. Having grown up in a system unlike any of the other cats Tao knew, most of this was new information. Jongdae had only given him a partial explanation for how cats were raised in places like this, and much of it sounded not unlike shoddy orphanages, except that hybrid kittens were purposefully taken from their parents right after birth, and forced to live in the agencies until they were sold. It was unpleasant even to think about, and he'd never even set foot in a place like that.

Yixing took over. "We've finally got approval to begin procedures with one of the agencies that's otherwise due to shut down within the year. The private business failed, and the State had to take over. Now they want to clean it out. It's kind of like the place Luhan and Kyungsoo came from before we brought them to the shelter, but this particular agency is swamped with younger kittens. And all of them need homes or they run the risk of being dumped on the street, or worse."

Tao noticed that even Sehun was beginning to pay attention to the discussion, however slyly, like he pretended it wasn't of interest to him. Then Tao realized that Joonmyun and Yixing were still looking at him, waiting for perhaps an answer, a comment, anything.

"Uhm, well I don't really know much about anything..." he said hesitatingly.

Yixing smiled. "Oh you don't have to know much about the project itself. Just, the kittens. We kind of wanted some adult cats to be around them, encourage them or just kind of hang out while they learn to adjust. We wouldn't ask you to do anything big or incredibly involving, except of course for the kittens. They won't know much about life either, I'd say. And they won't have had much opportunity to see how older cats can be. That's what I was thinking of, especially for Jongdae. And you, if you are interested."

"It's okay, Tao," Joonmyun assured him. "Just think about it, and if you want I can explain more of it to you. We're planning to visit together next week and start the process. Already have some really great humans who want to adopt. It's really heartwarming to see."

Tao nodded. He hadn't eaten much of his dinner so far. The roast was overly salty, and the potatoes bland. Sehun also picked at his food, and Joonmyun chewed each bite with obliging necessity. He let the conversation turn to other things, and by the end of the meal Yixing grilled him again about how much he liked living in the house with the other cats, and he gave only the most basic of answers because really, there wasn't much to complain about. Also, anything funny or interesting he might have mentioned, like having to learn how to fit his new clothes for tails, or how Kai had taught him how to wear a beanie so that his ears didn't show; that he'd learned how not to act catlike when Jongdae sent him to the grocery store... How crazy Baekhyun was some days when he thoughts birds were attacking, or how Kyungsoo spent so much time on the computer he forgot how to verbally talk to real people; how weird it was that Minseok and Luhan had two beds in their room and one was consistently unused - all of those things made him slightly embarrassed, especially when he thought about Sehun.

The boy hadn't said more than a few words all throughout the meal, and none of them were directed specifically to Tao. He could feel his eyes though, every now and then on his, burning, judgmental. Why, he didn't know. Half the time he looked back to catch Sehun, he would immediately look away, and not even guiltily. It was as if Sehun really was curious about him, but not enough to hide or conceal it, or dare to look intimidated when Tao stared back. Tao was certain, however, that Sehun laughed at him when he accidentally flung a carrot across the table with his fork, or when his tail accidentally brushed Joonmyun on the back and frightened the poor man before he realized what was tickling him. Sometimes Tao really hated how his tail seemed to have a life of its own.

When they finished the meal, Jessica returned to carry off the plates and Joonmyun stood up like a gentleman to help remove the roast platter from the table. Sehun slurped ice from his empty tea glass and Yixing drummed his hands on the edge of the table.

"Well, Tao. I'm glad you seem to be pretty happy. I know the house isn't as big as the ranch. It's a shame that property had to be sold. I hear it's being parceled up and sub-leased to all kinds of people now. That other line of Wu descendants sure know how to carve up land. Pity." He shook his head and sighed.

Something about his nostalgic tone struck a chord in Tao's mind though. "Did you... know the place well?" As far as Tao knew, he'd never seen Yixing before the day of the funeral.

Yixing nodded and smiled fondly. "Oh yes. Back in the day I spent lots of time there. We were best friends when we were young, your owner and I. Did you know that?" Tao did not. "Went to college together actually. Life kind of got in the way after that, but we kept in touch. I was the one who recommended your parents move there, Tao. They were already together, and... ahh, nasty times, but they were sure to be split up if they didn't find a home together. I called him up and he suggested he had plenty of space, and he didn't mind cats, so they moved out there. Pretty soon they had you."

It might have been a beautiful story, had Tao ever heard of it before. But this was the first time he'd ever heard that his parents' relationship had ever been threatened by... something. And his master had never elaborated much on why they had come to live with him. And when they died, his dad when Tao was 11 and his mom just a year later, his master treated him the same as ever, like an uncle who doted on his charge and raised him well.

"I was real unhappy when he called to tell me he was sick... but his first thoughts were for you, and what would happen to you. Did you know I actually have a baby picture of you, Tao?"

Tao shook his head, throat suddenly parched.

"I do!" Yixing continued. "Your parents sent it to me. Well, they sent it to me and my wife." He addressed his son now. "We were all great friends back in the day, did you know that, Sehun?"

Sehun stared at his lap, glumly. "Yes, I think I've heard that..."

"I was sorry I couldn't come out when they passed. But I was kept up-to-date about you. And then... I miss that old guy. Yifan was a pretty great man..."

Joonmyun returned at that point from the kitchen, bearing a large glass dish. "Jessica made dessert!" He said cheerfully, a smile plastered to his face. "Tiramisu!"

"Oh, wonderful!" Yixing exclaimed, genuinely excited. Sehun stared at it suspiciously, clueing Tao in as well, while Joonmyun made one more return trip to the kitchen and came back bearing dessert plates and forks. They each served tiny, experimental portions and slurped down the treat. Sehun muttered something about it tasting like pudding, and when his father served himself a second large helping, muttered something else about lost tastebuds. Tao was starting to agree. His stomach churned, though part of that was surely do to his nerves and hearing about his parents. The dessert only heightened that feeling. He was glad when they could finally stand up and begin their departures.

Yixing and Joonmyun lingered, as men with a long personal history do, chatting about one thing or another. Tao beat them to the front door without realizing they hadn't followed. Sehun dragged along sloppily on his feet and leaned against a low dresser cabinet against the wall. He stifled a yawn when Tao noticed him, and then smiled when he saw the older men still yapping on the other wise of the room.

"You get used to this," he said suddenly.

"Used to what?" Tao asked. He stood awkwardly

"Them. Being chatty, long-winded, all around nosey."

Tao made a face. Chatty he could see, nosey he didn't quite understand, but long-winded was a young man's term for for people with more skills at conversation than themselves, and in any case he didn't think it a fit way to describe Joonmyun or Yixing. Sehun must have realized that Tao wouldn't sympathize with his sentiments. He changed tactics appropriately.

"So, gonna go work with the kittens then?"

"Why, aren't you?"

The suggestion seemed to stress Sehun out. He shifted uncomfortably, rubbing along the cabinet, and he nearly elbowed a picture frame of him and his dad that couldn't have been taken more than ten years ago. Sehun had longish black hair that nearly engulfed his whole head and most of his eyes, and a ten years younger Yixing still looked rugged but handsome with slightly less gray hair. There was a picture next to that one of Yixing as a young man with blond hair that shocked Tao. There were actually a whole dozen pictures in various shaped frames along the top of the dresser. Tao suddenly became curious if in of those frames he would find a young picture of his master, or maybe even... his parents.

With slow, casual footsteps he stalked up to the cabinet. Sehun blocked his way though, and by the suddenly shocked expression on his face, Tao realized Sehun must be thinking it was him who was the prey, and not the pictures behind him. Tao smirked, and instead of veering off course to the side of Sehun where most of the pictures stood he walked straight up to Sehun himself. He closed in a few feet at a time until he stood at arm's length and Sehun's eyes had turned wide.

"Wh-what are you doing?" he asked, looking for all the world like he was about to be attacked by the strange hybrid in his home.

"I'm just looking..." Tao said. A sudden thrill coursed through his body when he realized how enjoyable it was to be purposefully misleading.

"A-at what?" Sehun continued to stutter.

"At, you- your family albums." Tao looked down and fetched up the nearest frame. It just so happened to be a solo shot of Sehun when he graduated from middle school. The hair and the boring beige uniform and Sehun's bland expression in it made Tao laugh, until Sehun tore the frame from his hands and set it upside down on the table. Tao didn't move, but he'd just spotted another frame of Yixing and a much younger Sehun, and the blue-ish sleeve of a dress that might have belonged to Sehun's mother. The present replica Sehun, however, obscured the photo menacingly with his body and Tao didn't actually dare to push him farther. He backed up a few steps with a slight chuckle, and finally heard Joonmyun saying a definitive goodbye to Yixing in the background.

"Goodnight, Sehun," Tao said pleasantly.

 

 

Joonmyun insisted on walking Tao into the house when they got back, even though Tao insisted he could manage. It was late by Joonmyun's standards, past ten and he yawned when Tao pushed the door open. He stepped inside anyways, mumbled something about needing to ask somebody something, and Tao shrugged and skipped away up the stairs.

The rest of the house was silent and dark, except for the hint of a light coming down the hallway from the den. Just as he figured, Kyungsoo was still awake. He made short steps of the path down the hallway, taking care to make some noise so his appearance wouldn't be quite a surprise. At the doorway Kyungsoo paused with whatever he was typing and asked, "Back already, Tao?"

"Tao's home, but no, it's just me."

Kyungsoo whipped his head around. "Joonmyun... What's... up?" he asked tersely. His tone suggested he really didn't care, but now that he was interrupted, Joonmyun figured that Kyungsoo would be vaguely curious about why he was in their house at this hour of the night. And that was the problem. Because he didn't really have a reason, or at least not one that Kyungsoo would care to acknowledge.

"Just seeing how you were doing..." Joonmyun said smoothly. "How is your... what is it, a blog?"

"My adoption blog? I don't even know if you can call it that these days," Kyungsoo sighed. "I just get hits from a lot of pervy people. Geez, how hard is it to find a home where guys don't just want to bang you the instant you move in? I'm starting to see the problem Kai always talks about..."

Joonmyun made himself comfortable on the two-seater sofa. He smiled, and not pleasantly, but at least Kyungsoo would never know the difference between his fake smile and the genuine one he had for whenever Kyungsoo wasn't looking. At least he talked to him this way, Joonmyun consoled himself. Since the time Joonmyun accidentally discovered Kyungsoo was still making steady inquiries to find himself another place to live, it had become a secret he allowed Kyungsoo to keep from the other cats. Actually he was pretty sure Jongdae knew, or had found out, or maybe only suspected, but he never said anything about it, and probably Kyungsoo was lucky enough not to be interrogated. Only Joonmyun could ask because only he was supposed to know.

 

 

_Kyungsoo was in the second batch of cats he and Yixing rescued, along with Luhan. And 'rescue' was a pretty dramatic word for the occasion, because they'd basically just come and picked them up the day their agency was forced to shut down due to sanitation violations. Kyungsoo and Luhan had sat side by side with their matching regulation suitcases, hands in each other's and Yixing calmly lead Luhan away, while Joonmyun was responsible for leading Kyungsoo._

_"Where are we going?" Luhan had asked Yixing._

_"To a nice place. Much nicer than this. Think of it as a shelter home. You won't have to do anything, or see anybody you don't like. It'll just be cats, and nobody is going to take you back or threaten to take you to any bad place."_

_"Are you going to be there?"_

_"Am I going to live there?" Yixing chuckled. "No. It's just for cats like you. In fact, we already have one cat living there and he can't wait for some company. His name is Minseok and I'm sure he'll be happy to meet you."_

_Luhan consented to be moved, and Yixing took his suitcase._

_Kyungsoo, however, stared up at Joonmyun with big, challenging eyes. "Are you going to adopt me?"_

_Joonmyun instantly recoiled. "Adopt you? No..."_

_"I was told we are supposed to get adopted and then someone will take care of us. Where are we going if you're not going to adopt us?"_

_Joonmyun had tried, patiently, to explain to the tiny cat that it wasn't like that, that cats didn't need to be 'adopted' anymore, but Kyungsoo flat out refused to leave his bench until Joonmyun could persuade him to move to the shelter home. The promise of other cats for company, even Luhan going with them, nothing consoled Kyungsoo until Joonmyun tried another tactic. "Why don't you come with us, and if you still don't like living in the home, after a while you can still try to find someone to adopt you."_

_"But why aren't you going to adopt me?" Kyungsoo had insisted, and there was a yearning sort of desperation in his eyes now._

_Joonmyun had wrung his hair and pulled on his chin, and finally, exasperated, he said, "I don't adopt cats. It's not what I do. I just... help rescue them."_

_Kyungsoo's eyes had watered a little. "B-but, what's the difference?"_

 

 

He was older now, a tiny bit wiser, and he no longer equated adoption with straight out rescue, but Kyungsoo was still looking for a change of address and a human to take him in. He ignored Joonmyun now, and returned to his computer, chatting with some semi-free cat on another side of the world about the hardships of meeting decent humans who would take them in and love them.

The twinge of sleepiness pulled at Joonmyun's eyes, and he was in danger of passing out on the couch for the night. But then the side profile of Kyungsoo's face wasn't a bad thing to fall asleep to, and it wouldn't be the first time he slept to the sound of scattered taps on a keyboard, knowing he'd wake up with a crick in his neck and a backache and a cold, twirling computer chair.

"I screwed up," he mumbled to himself one last time, before his eyes shut for good.

 

 

 

{Tea and Naps}

 

Tao woke up well before dawn the next morning sporting a mildly upset stomach and slightly darker eye circles than normal. It wasn't a completely sleepless night, but he had slept uneasy and part of that was due to a brand new sort of dream about hybrid kittens in what he only assumed was some sort of agency building. He wouldn't technically call it a nightmare, and truthfully that was because he had no real idea of what these agencies must have been like for the children who were raised in them. The dreams were rather hazy, but just enough to be unsettling. He wondered, not for the first time since leaving Yixing's home last night, if this endeavor was really something he should take on or not. Perhaps Yixing was right and Jongdae was best suited for the situation, and since Tao didn't think he was anywhere near as nice and awesome as his roommate, maybe Tao shouldn't do it.

Clumsily he made his way downstairs in the darkened house. The lit clock in the entryway read off the time as being just before six. Plenty of hours ahead in the day to think about these things, Tao reasoned. In the meantime, his stomach groaned. He had more pressing matters to deal with first, and that was to make himself something to drink to calm his tummy. He felt his way through the living room and entered the kitchen. He didn't expect there to be a night light already on above the stove, or to see Baekhyun sitting up at the breakfast table staring wistfully through the window into the backyard.

“Tao?” Baekhyun asked, when Tao paused in the doorway. The smaller cat peered into the darkness, eyes squinted, and when Tao greeted him in return, he smiled. “What has you up so early today?”

For answer Tao sat down across from him and rubbed his stomach, frowning a little. “Don't know. Stomach hurts. Didn't sleep well anyways.. Got up,” he mumbled. Whole sentences never came well to him before at least eight in the morning.

“Want me to make you something? Tea?”

“Sure... thanks. You drink tea?”

Baekhyun cupped the mug sitting before him. “I have an herb garden. Of course I drink tea. Make my own brews too, but don't tell Kyungsoo. He's a little suspicious of my concoctions.” He winked and stood up. Tao watched him puttering around in the pantry as he filtered through some glass jars of dried herbs.

“Do you always wake up this early?” Tao asked after a few moments.

“Yes. Usually. I like the quiet time before dawn.”

“Oh. I'm sorry... for bothering you then.”

“Oh don't be sorry. I don't mind the company. It's just become a habit these days. And anyways, Kai snores, so I usually escape as early as I can. Sit around... and then I go outside.” He chuckled.

“I see...” Tao pouted, because he really didn't have else to do and being awake so early in the morning wasn't really his thing. Nor could he really understand other people who woke up so early. People like Baekhyun who were chatty even at this hour. Tao's own verbal spigot didn't turn until at least eight. Nine to be safe. Ten to be safer.

Baekhyun sat back down while the water brewed. “So, let me guess. You had your dinner at Yixing's last night? Did Jessica cook?” Tao nodded, and Baekhyun laughed. “Ah, that woman. Not all that bad, but her meals don't usually blend well with a cat's digestion.”

“I think it was the tiramisu,” Tao complained, laughing as well.

“And for me it was the peach cobbler!” He shook his head and yawned. Then he scratched his head with particular vigor around his ear, saying, “How on earth she can mess up a peach cobbler, I just don't understand...”

Ten minutes later Tao had his tea, and half of it was already gone. Baekhyun was on his second cup, and he looked like he didn't want to pry, but as Tao's face kept twisting up in a manner that had nothing to do with his stomach ache, he finally had to ask. “Anything else on your mind, Tao?”

Tao had plenty of things on his mind, even if most of didn't really make sense. Like what he was supposed to think of Yixing and his work, or how it turned out that Yixing had a son who purportedly doesn't like cats. And seriously, that was a mystery he'd rather much like solved, for... reasons. At the very least though he was curious about Baekhyun, why Baekhyun was here, and what did he think about this kind of half-life. When had he taken to gardening as a hobby, and who was this great love he always mentioned with great sighs, and why did he think all birds were evil. Instead he just asked, “What was it like? The agencies?”

Tao winced at his words, at first worrying that the other cat would find him impertinent, but Baekhyun smiled just like he'd expected to hear something like this all along. “The agencies? You mean growing up?”

Tao nodded.

“Why do you ask, kitten?”

He shrugged. “Just... Yixing mentioned them last night. And I was curious.”

“Ahh, I see.”

“You don't have to tell me!” Tao cried, very apologetic and anxious to divert the subject. His master had always told him he asked too many questions of people, though oddly enough, he never criticized him for it. Perhaps that lack of discipline would get him into more trouble now?

It apparently didn't phase Baekhyun either. “Nah, It's okay. How was living in the agency? For me, not bad. Not too bad at least. You hear stories about others who were brought up in much seedier places, but for the most part my agency did a halfway decent job raising the batch of cats they had. They try their best anyways, because they want to raise cats who are fit for adoption, and won't scare away any potential owners when they come around. Makes me wonder why I even got adopted in the first place. Too loud! They always told me I was too loud!”

The story Baekhyun gave Tao was pretty generic, he assured him. Baekhyun didn't remember much of anything about his earliest days. As a toddler he only knew his caretakers and the others who were with him, half-breed boy and girl cats, and a half dozen human workers who rotated on shifts. They changed every few months too, on purpose so that the cats wouldn't become attached. They were only taught basic skills, how to talk and then to read and write and maybe a little math, and the rest of their days were spent either sleeping or playing. They had no toys and almost nothing to do except to entertain each other, quietly, or else they were separated and put in seclusion. (“Good thing I could entertain myself pretty easily!”) Around age ten the hybrids were given lessons in humility (“Yeah that worked well for me”), how to be polite, and how to act grateful. Then was nothing else to learn really, until at seventeen they were given a crash course on some more adult matters... (“Huh!”) just in case. To prepare them for any eventuality, their caretakers assured them.

“And then at eighteen we can be adopted!” Baekhyun concluded happily, a wry smile attached. “It's kind of funny really. Suddenly we reach the age humans suspect we've attained maturity and it's a magical number.” Baekhyun fluttered his fingers for emphasis. “Some people think that by adopting an eighteen year old hybrid they are taking home a perfect pet for their children. Like we can be both a playmate and a babysitter for their precious angels.” He laughed. “But in truth we know absolutely nothing. And we can do absolutely nothing, because we were taught nothing useful, and that's just how it goes.” He puckered out his lower lip and stared wistfully out the window.

Tao watched him speak, eyes narrowed. “Is that what happened to you?”

“Hmm?” Baekhyun looked like he'd just snapped back from some far away place.

“When you were adopted...?”

“Oh. Yeah, kinda sorta. Nice family. Good kids. Youngest girl was around ten and the next was thirteen and then there was the older son...” Baekhyun's eyes retreated once again to that far away place, and his narrative came to a halt once more. Tao was a little too scared to ask, because prior to this morning he only knew two facts about Baekhyun's life before the cat moved into the shelter. One was this 'supposedly great love' that he'd cultivated somewhere along the way, and the second was that he'd been returned.

And Tao had only heard a few things about 'returned cats'. Jongdae referred to them once: cats whose owners sent them back because they no longer wanted them, cats who behaved so badly, or who were seen as unfit. The other kind of returned cats were the ones fleeing physical abuse but even they had no rights or privileges, and were still viewed by society as unwanted or damaged chattel. So far as Tao knew, at least two such creatures had found refuge through Yixing in the shelter. Whether or not Baekhyun was one of them, Tao had yet to determine. He was also pretty sure he didn't want to know. He was starting to regret bringing up this whole conversation. When Baekhyun turned quiet, Tao felt uneasy.

The sun had yet to poke its head out from the horizon, but a few hints of light flittered in through the window. Upstairs a door opened and then closed, and Baekhyun snapped out of his reverie. “Anyways, I turned out okay.” He smiled so sweetly at Tao, that Tao knew the face could only be a mask for something else, but he knew better than to pry any further.

Jongdae was the next one awake. They heard him shuffling around the ground floor, and after a few minutes he half stumbled, half slunk into the kitchen with a yawn. “Morning. Is there coffee?”

“Nope. We had tea,” Baekhyun chirped.

Jongdae grunted but didn't budge. “Anyone know why Joonmyun is sleeping in the computer room?”

“He is? Again?” Baekhyun laughed. “Oh well. Time for me to hit the dirt!”

Tao and Jongdae watched him go, and a few seconds later there was the typical morning howl as Baekhyun chased away a flock of early morning birds and all seemed right with the world.

“So how come you're up so early?” Jongdae asked, and Tao repeated the same story he'd told Baekhyun, receiving the same sort of sympathy about Jessica's cooking. Tao didn't ask him anything else though, namely because he wasn't sure Yixing or Joonmyun had had a chance to discuss their plans with Jongdae yet, and Tao didn't think he was the best person to introduce the topic. It's not like he had any idea what they'd be doing there, really.

He yawned and stretched out across the table as Jongdae stood behind him watching Baekhyun's morning battle through the window. Tao even purred when Jongdae started absentmindedly scratching around his ears. Sometimes cats were the best company because they just knew all the best spots. Tao writhed and stretched along the table as Jongdae's scratching turned into a full on back massage.

“Can you do this every morning?” Tao begged, all nightmares and stories put aside from his head for the moment.

Jongdae chuckled. “Nope. You gotta earn this kind of affection if you want it every day!”

“Uggh. Then what do I have to do?”

“You have to cook breakfast today. Now get to it.”

Jongdae walked away and Tao scowled, suddenly alone in the kitchen in a panic because he still hadn't mastered how to cook anything that wasn't microwaveable. He was halfway to deciding to ask Kyungsoo for help when he heard the other cat saunter down the stairs and Jongdae intercept him in the living room. Tao's ears perked up so he could gauge Kyungsoo's mood. Some days he was super sweet, and other days he was moody as hell, and it all depended on... well, Tao hadn't yet figured out what were the deciding factors to Kyungsoo's mood swings.

“Morning, Soo,” Jongdae said.

“Don't call me that. Good morning.”

“Is it though? Hey, Joonmyun's in the computer room.”

“And?”

Maybe this wasn’t one of Kyungsoo's better days, Tao thought quietly, his tail dropping in defeat.

Jongdae kept on trying to cheerful though. “Maybe you should go wake him up? And/or send him home?”

“And why would I do that?”

Yep, this was definitely not one of Kyungsoo's happy days.

“Well, I don't think he slept over to see me first thing in the morning, so...”

“I have no idea what you're implying, but I can happily kick him out.”

“That's not what I...” Jongdae's voice trailed off and Kyungsoo's footsteps echoed down the hallway. “Oh well,” Jongdae said.

Tao yawned. Maybe they'd be cool with just toast and cereal today?

Luhan came down the stairs then bearing the requests of His Highness upstairs. “Minseok wants eggs benedict today. Who's cooking because it's definitely not me. I cooked two days ago.”

Jongdae must have pointed him towards the kitchen and Tao whined when Luhan stuck his head in to see the designated chef of the morning, still splayed out across the breakfast table with a miserable look on his face.

“Oh... damnit.” Luhan said. “Well, I guess I'm cooking today.”

 

 

It was well into the afternoon when Jongdae retreated into his shared bedroom, now devoid of his roommates since Tao had passed out outside under a tree and Kyungsoo was on the computer. He made a mental note to urge those two to go and do something athletic sometime; otherwise they'd fall out of shape pretty soon. He still wasn't really sure what Tao did, or at least what he liked to do other than sleep or doze or follow around one cat after another looking for something to do. Did he have any hobbies or any other skills? It seemed a gross oversight that Jongdae had never really asked him. He pictured the cat, no the kitten, growing up on some gorgeous stretch of land or just prancing about all day chasing dust bunnies or sleeping in trees. Funny how the image never changed, or how Jongdae couldn't really picture him doing anything else. What did a single cat do by himself all day anyways?

Jongdae yawned and determined he'd ask him soon enough. Until then though he needed a nap himself, and sadly his own bed wasn't looking all that appealing. He walked over to close the window, thinking perhaps a little darkness would shroud him better. It didn't.

He didn't even bother trying to nap there, and instead he got up and knocked on the door next to his.

“Kai?” He whispered. Jongdae knew the cat was in there. It was Kai's day off, and even though the cat hadn't talked much about his new job, Jongdae knew from Kai's expression every day that it must have been stressful somehow. Today he hadn't come down except to eat food and then return to his room. Trust Kai to not even want to talk about things. Jongdae knocked again, then said his name a little louder. From inside the room he heard the sound of a chair leg moving, but no response. He sighed and went to the next door.

This time he didn't bother knocking, but helped himself into Minseok and Luhan's room. Both cats were on their bed and but still awake. They looked towards him when Jongdae entered, but didn't say anything. Luhan laid on his stomach with his arms propping him up so he could gaze out the window, and Minseok was curled up next to him. The older one smiled a bit. “Hello,” he called merrily, lazily, and closed his eyes.

Jongdae didn't ask permission before crawling up on the bed beside Minseok and laying down. Luhan frowned at him for a moment but then he returned his gaze to the outside.

“Sleepy?” Minseok asked, eyes still closed.

“Mmmm,” Jongdae moaned.

“Me too. Can't sleep by yourself?”

“Not the same by myself,” he whispered. He rolled sideways putting his back to Minseok's chest and let the other cat cradle one arm over him. He heard Luhan give a warning hiss but refused to be bothered by it.

“Why don't you go sleep with Tao?” Luhan whined.

“Too hot outside...”

The other cat snorted but Minseok hushed him. Jongdae was almost asleep when he heard the oldest one ask, “Is Baekhyun still out there?”

Luhan pushed himself up to peer again out the window. “Yes.”

“Still sitting there?”

“Yes.”

Minseok sighed and Jongdae forced himself to stay awake for a least a little bit longer. “What's wrong with Baekhyun?” he asked.

“Don't know, but he's grown quiet again. Luhan and I have been watching him since noon. He's just been sitting there not doing much of anything...”

“Again?” Jongdae said, his voice nearly a whisper.

“Yes. Maybe he needs a new project to distract him,” Minseok declared. “I'll call Chanyeol later and see if he can come out tomorrow. There's that patch near the side fencing that Baekhyun's been wanting to transform into a raised garden. That might make him happy.”

Jongdae grunted his assent and closed his eyes again, feeling the sleepiness drag him away, and Minseok's arm cuddled him closer. He lost track of time after that and barely registered Luhan rolling Minseok away before he crawled in between them. Jongdae sighed at the loss, but quickly snuggled into Luhan's back since that was the only thing left available to them. He also heard the door open and close but he didn't bother looking to see who it was. On the other side of the room the bed springs of the unused bed creaked as a weight was added to it. Kai, most likely, looking silently for some company.

The four of them slept.


	2. Chapter 2

{Cats' Night In and Out}

 

On Monday morning Tao woke up bright and early, eager to put a fresh start for his second week in the shelter. What he didn't need to tell anyone is that Jongdae put him up to it, but at 7:00 am sharp he was standing by the front door when Kai came down the stairs for work. 

“What... are you doing?” Kai asked grumpily when Tao opened the door for him and then followed him outside. 

“I'm walking with you.”

“Like hell you're walking with me to work. Go back inside.”

“No.”

“Then go walk in the other direction.”

“Don't want to.”

“Well I'm not walking with you.”

“Okay.” 

Kai strode off with long strides before he reasoned that Tao had given up a little too quickly and then he halted and swung back around to look. Tao had given him about eight good steps head start and then started following.

 _“He's going to resist,”_ Jongdae had warned him. _“And he might threaten you but he never goes ahead with his threats so be persistent and he'll eventually give up.”_

It seemed Jongdae knew Kai well because after various threats about having his tail cut off when he sleeps, Kai fumed and huffed and then continued onwards with Tao at his eight paces behind. Tao followed in his shadow merrily and by the time they'd reached the halfway point, he'd cut the steps down to four paces, and still Kai didn't say anything. He didn't acknowledge he was even there actually, but that was enough for Tao. He thought about cutting it to two paces, but then he worried for his tail and what if Jongdae misjudged something somewhere along the way? Tao wasn't willing to risk it. When they got closer to the building where Kai worked though, Tao did fold his tail straight downwards behind his leg so as not to draw more attention to them. He'd already donned a beanie for his ears so otherwise he looked just like Kai: human-like. Except that Kai was hardcore and kept his tail stuffed down his baggy pant legs instead of out. Tao had tried that over the weekend and it was plain uncomfortable, no matter which way you stuck it. He had to have some respect for Kai. 

Did respect and spying go hand in hand? He'd ask Jongdae later, because it was at his request that Tao was supposed to scope out the area for any signs of Kai's unhappiness. He found none this morning, however, and since Kai didn't invite him inside, and Tao wasn't about to ask, he about-faced at the door and retreated at the same speed all the way home. _”Hey, at least you'll get a walk out if it,”_ Jongdae assured him. Well, he got that.

And more.

He was right on the corner of the his street when he heard the little doggies. Two specifically, because the third had gotten loose and before Tao had time to react it was on him, sniffing at his feet and bouncing at his hip. He bent down to pet it and then toppled over so that he sat on the side of his hip while the puppy worked itself into a fluster around him. The other two arrived promptly on their leashes, and Tao didn't have to look up to recognize the Converse sneakers of their irritated owner. 

For some reason Tao could already guess whatever scowl Sehun would have in place, and for this reason he was already laughing at the human before he turned his head to peer upwards. He'd been right. He also guessed that this particular walk of Sehun's didn't include a planned interception with Tao on the corner, and that was empowering. 

“Morning,” he said cheerfully. He might have been at a physical disadvantange from his tumble on the sidewalk, but he was definitely going to be more cheerful.

Sehun had no choice but to return the greeting. “Morning...”

“Lost a dog, huh?”

Sehun grunted. “Appears so.”

“And this time probably wasn't on purpose, huh?”

That brought out the scowl in full force again. Tao pulled himself up to his feet and dusted himself him off while Sehun retrieved the leash for the rogue puppy. 

“Well, guess I'll be seeing you,” Sehun quipped. He started to dart around Tao in a direction that was decidedly not towards home, but it was a lovely morning in Tao's eyes and he didn't really want to go home yet. He'd also already dealt with one grumpy individual this morning, so what was there stopping him from making that two?

“Can I come?” 

“Excuse me?” Sehun stopped, and the puppies yanked him a half step off balance at the end of their ropes. “Come? Come where?” He challenged.

“I feel like walking.”

“So?”

“Well, where are you going?” He tried to make a play for one of the leashes, but Sehun switched them from his left hand to his right and out of Tao's reach. 

“Nowhere cool. Now leave me alone.”

On those certain terms, Tao employed the same tactic that had worked with Kai: he gave him eight paces distance before following. Unfortunately it didn't work as smoothly since the dogs had gotten wind that he was following, and the most friendly of the three kept turning around and waiting as if for Tao to catch up. Sehun had no choice but to slow down and finally Tao could walk at his side. He tugged off his beanie because his ears itched and besides, he already knew Sehun had a problem with cats. There was nothing more to hide.

They walked silently for a few more blocks until they came upon a park Tao didn't know was there. He didn't know much about the neighborhood at all really except for his house, Joonmyun's, Yixing's, and now Kai's workplace. The park wasn't much to look at it. It had probably been given better care and maintenance in days long back. The playground was a bit rusty but it worked, and the grass wasn't well cared for. There was at least a small duck pond (with no ducks) and some magnificent shady trees. 

Tao tried not to look too impressed. He also tried to curb his instincts to climb them. It wasn't just a cat thing, he assured himself. But tree climbing had been one of his more frequent hobbies when he had nothing else to do on the ranch. 

Sehun followed his gaze and smirked. He tied the dogs' leashes to a bench and then sat on it, his legs crossed with his knees together, and he folded his arms across his chest to complete the picture. 

“Are you going to climb that tree or just stare at it?” he asked, tonelessly.

“Climb it, of course.” Tao grinned and then got to work. He picked the nearest low-hanging branch that would hold his weight and jumped to reach it. Now with some leverage he walked his feet up the trunk until he could haul himself up and over the branch. First one down. He perched on it happily and then stood up to find the next branch.

Sehun watched him for a little bit, and then he looked away. Then he watched as he climbed the next branch, and then away. Tao contemplated climbing up to the highest of highs just to see if Sehun would ever do anything other than look. Then again, that was just being irresponsible. Tao knew his limits. But it seemed Sehun didn't.

Tao stopped only halfway up and found a nice spot to sit, and still Sehun tried not to look curious. He scowled and looked away when Tao caught him staring, and Tao just had to laugh.

“Why do you look so grumpy? Want to climb the tree with me?”

Sehun snorted. “No. Why would I do that?”

“Because it's fun!”

“For you. I'm not a cat.”

Tao pouted playfully in the tree, although Sehun wasn't looking at him anymore. The dogs had sunk down to rest at his feet and he pet one and then another, pointedly ignoring Tao.

“You don't have to be a cat to climb trees. I hear kids do it all the time.”

“Yeah, well I'm also not a kid.”

Tao didn't say anything to him this time, but he did notice how it flustered Sehun to not get a response. He waited until the human looked up at him again, and then he smiled. Nothing more than that.

Sehun frowned again. “So... is that your hobby? Climbing trees?”

Tao laughed. “No. Yes. Not really.”

“Figures you can't really make up your mind.”

Tao started shimmying down the tree, no longer seeing the advantage of sitting well above Sehun on the ground. “Well, have to do something for fun,” he said.

“Isn't that all you do though? Sleep, eat, and have fun?”

Tao landed with a thump sturdily on two feet, but Sehun jerked backwards from the shock of seeing Tao magically in front of him. The dogs wagged their tails.

“Now that's all I do. Before though, I actually did school.”

Sehun's eyes widened. “School? But... like... how much school?”

Tao sat down on the grass beside the dogs and started playing with them. “Home school basically, since I couldn't go to a regular school. I think it's the equivalent of a high school education. If I wasn't a cat I could go get a GED, but... instead I'm just a smart cat with nothing to do.” He grinned wide at Sehun, lips pressed together.

“Huh,” Sehun grunted and looked away. “Well that's... certainly progressive of your owner.” 

“I know, right? Anyways...”

“Anyways, I need to get back,” Sehun cut him off. He looked at his watch as if he'd just remembered it was there and got on his feet. Tao stood up too and tried to reach for the leash, but again Sehun got there before him. He unhooked the dogs from the bench and started walking out of the park. Tao kept up with him.

“What do you have to do today?” he asked, genuinely curious.

Sehun didn't answer for a moment. When Tao opened his mouth again, however, he said, “College. I have... class in an hour.”

Tao felt his mouth going dry. “You go to college?”

“Uh huh.”

“What... for?”

Again Sehun didn't answer and another half block disappeared under their feet until finally he said in a soft voice. “Education. I'm... I want to be a teacher.”

 

 

Tao left Sehun on the corner that turned down his street, and while he said goodbye, Sehun didn't respond, and Tao shook it off the rest of the way home. He found Baekhyun around the side of the house barking orders at Chanyeol while they argued on the best placement and design of Baekhyun's new raised flower beds. Baekhyun waved him a good morning, and Chanyeol smiled with a goofy grin and then Tao was no more in their radar as they bickered on. 

He found Jongdae inside in the living and was immediately interrogated.

“You're back! How was Kai? What did his work place look like? How come it took you so long?”

Tao explained that nothing seemed amiss with Jongin but that he hadn't gone inside. Jongdae took that news decently enough but he stared hard at Tao and in total shock when Tao explained how he'd gone walking with Sehun on the way home. 

“You... did what?”

“I saw Sehun... and his dogs... and we went to the park?”

Kyungsoo took that opportunity to bud in, having apparently overheard most of the conversation. “But he doesn't like us.”

Tao shrugged. “I didn't exactly ask if I could go with him, if that makes more sense.”

Kyungsoo chuckled, even though Jongdae still wasn't able to understand. “Huh,” was all he managed to grunt.

Tao dropped into one of the sofas and stuffed a pillow behind his head. “Did you know he wants to become a teacher?” Now both of them stared at him. “What?” He smiled, suddenly proud to have achieved this kind of reaction from the older cats. _Ignore Sehun,_ they'd said. _He doesn't like cats. He won't bother with us more than he has to,_ they'd said. 

“Why doesn't he like cats?” Tao asked in a softer voice.

A hand appeared suddenly on his head and Minseok stroked lightly through his hair. He tugged on his ear and made a sound that signalled approval, but he didn't answer. 

“You know something, don't you?” Jongdae asked.

Minseok smiled mystically but kept on his way to the back porch for his mid-morning nap. The door closed behind him as the three cats inside stared after him. Finally they looked at Kyungsoo, who had been in the house nearly as long as Minseok, but he too shrugged. “Don't look at me. I don't know anything. I just know that's how he's always been. Cold and curt and pretty much a little shit if you talk to him directly.”

“Oh, well he's still kind of that,” said Tao, and they laughed. Jongdae started playing with the tassles on Tao's pillow, and Kyungsoo went back to his computer, and a few minutes later Luhan half-trotted, half-sprinted through the living room like he'd just woken up in a panic and found Minseok gone. 

 

 

By midweek Tao hadn't heard anything about going to the shelter with Yixing, although he did know that Jongdae had spoken to the man and that he was on board with whatever they decided to do. Maybe because he hadn't given them an official 'yes' but nobody mentioned it to Tao again until Jongdae said something about this weekend. Tao figured he would go and talk to Joonmyun before then if Yixing didn't come by. 

In either case there was still plenty of things to do and think about. Every morning Tao walked with Kai, four paces behind, and sometimes he even walked there in time to pick him up at the end of the day, four paces behind. Between Kyungsoo and Jongdae he was learning how to cook so at least now his scrambled eggs didn't come out black but his over-easy still turned into a big fried mess. There were other times of the day when after he'd get tired of listening to Baekhyun fuss with his plants, Tao would retreat inside and attempt to be more social with Kyungsoo. Some days it worked, and other days Kyungsoo just turned off his monitor and crossed his arms and Tao took that as one of Kyungsoo's more polite ways of saying, 'Get out before you die.' On Wednesday afternoon Tao even managed a nap with Minseok, under the watchful eye of the eldest cat's keeper.

Life was eventful indeed.

Tao hadn't seen Sehun since their walk to the park, and with the human out of sight it was easy to pretend that Tao's world existed for and only for cats. Life in the shelter was as easy as Yixing had promised it would be. He had no call to go outside past the boundaries of their neighborhood, and all was perfect. 

On Thursday night the mid-oldest cats were going out. Tao wasn't invited because he wasn't old enough, and Jongdae declined, but when Kai began to complain how they never did anything fun around here anymore, he managed to scurry Baekhyun and Kyungsoo along on a Cats' Night Out excursion. He had a favorite bar or dance club that they went to occasionally, from what Tao could figure out. Joonmyun needed to accompany them because hybrids weren't allowed in without a guardian. 

Tao watched them go with unvarnished amusement plastered to his face. Baekhyun was dressed up snazzy, Kyungsoo looked like he could kill, and Kai for once had ditched the baggy pants and let his tail out, literally. Joonmyun ushered them out the door with a fine chorus of, “Guess I'm a proud owner of 3 tonight!” Baekhyun smacked him over the head and they all climbed into Joonmyun's car. 

Then the house was silent and Tao started to mope. Jongdae patted him on the shoulder comfortingly. “Cheer up. Give it a couple years and then you can go with them. Not that dancing and getting drunk while you dance is all that exciting but... some find it so.” He abandoned Tao then with a whoop and rushed over to the miraculously unoccupied computer. Tao heard him start up an online game and figured Jongdae could be considered absent for the rest of the night. Minseok and Luhan had retired early, as usual. The house was all Tao's now. 

Not half an hour later, however, the doorbell rang, and a very scowl-faced Sehun stood there with a backpack hanging off one shoulder and a bag of chips in his hand. “Dad told me I had to come over,” was all he said for introduction. 

“Uhm, what?” Tao said. He closed the door behind him and followed the guest into the living room.

“Want to watch a movie? I think there's a DVD player somewhere in this room...” 

“I... don't understand.”

“I don't like cats still. Don't mistake me. But apparently I'm supposed to come and socialize and so I brought some movies. Have you seen Homeward Bound? Talking cats? And dogs, actually. The dogs are the best.” 

By now Tao couldn't be offended. It was why he let Sehun turn on the TV and then locate the DVD player, and then spend another fifteen minutes trying to figure out which cable went where because Luhan had tried one day to set it up for Minseok and failed miserably. They were halfway through the movie before Sehun spoke to Tao again directly, and that was to offer the bag of chips he'd already eaten most of. Three-quarters through the movie, Tao was halfway asleep with a chip between his fingers and Sehun plucked it out and ate it himself. That forced him awake. 

“What are... YOU!” Tao retaliated and grabbed the bag out of Sehun's hands. He managed to nab it from the bottom, however, so what was left inside the bag ended up on Sehun's lap. The human howled as loud as any cat and jumped off of the couch, crumbs flying and his face contorted in rage until he saw Tao laughing hysterically still on the couch. Tao watched him soften for just a moment, and not in the forgiving sort of way, but with the kind of look that said 'I'll get you later.” Sehun took a step forward and Tao winced as if expecting an attack but then Sehun just brushed the crumbs onto the floor, and off of the couch and resumed his seat, stoic face and everything.

It was kind of a let down, if you asked Tao. For a moment it had been fun, but now he was back to his usual self and the rest of the movie (stupid talking animals that didn't even look human) was kind of boring. He thought about trying to provoke Sehun again just to get some sort of reaction, but it was late and he'd only gotten fourteen hours of sleep since the night before...

 

 

He was passed out before the closing credits. Sehun hadn't noticed until the movie ended and he yawned and he looked over to see if Tao was sleepy too but the cat had completely fallen asleep on his side with a pillow between his arms and one leg hanging off the couch. The cat's tail had drifted somehow and was laying side by side with Sehun's nearest leg. The realization made him tense up, but Sehun was afraid if he moved it would wake the cat and somehow that tail working its way alongside his body was far more intimate that Sehun wanted anyone to witness, and that included Tao himself. He scooted discretely to the right, allowing for a few inches. Then he sighed at himself because why move a couple inches when he could just stand up and leave?

Tao stretched in his sleep, and Sehun was suddenly reminded of how disturbed hybrids could get when they awoke and found their circumstances had changed. If he slipped out now would Tao find it unusual? If he woke up alone on the couch with nobody around and Sehun long gone? From the sounds of it, the next oldest cat Jongdae was still down the hall and had yet to emerge from his gaming. The sounds of it bothered Sehun all night long, but he pretended not to notice. Now it was quiet except for that. And kind of peaceful with the cat sleeping next to him.

He wasn't given much of an opportunity to enjoy it though.

A car door slammed and he assumed the older cats must be returning home. Honestly he was a little embarrassed to be caught hanging out over here, and Joonmyun would especially give him a hard time if he was seen. There was nowhere to run though. Tao woke up on full alert mode when the raucous group neared the front door, and he spared Sehun barely a moment's notice before he jumped up to intercept them. 

 

 

Kyungsoo was drunk. That was the first thing Tao noticed when he opened the door for the trio of cats and their human chaperone. Kai and Baekhyun looked plenty sloshed, but they were mostly still functional. It was Kyungsoo who was the wreck, not much past the height of his alcoholic consumption and only the support of Joonmyun kept him upright coming up the steps. 

“You’re back early,” Tao said, even if it wasn’t much. He was vaguely aware that Sehun was standing behind him somewhere in the entryway but he didn't have time to spare him a look. Not when Kyungsoo looked so miserable. Tao looked to Kai, the first in the door, hoping to get some sort of story out of their night, but the cat marched past him with a shrug of his shoulders. As Joonmyun half-carried, half-dragged Kyungsoo into the living room, that just left Baekhyun to give account.

“He’s had a hard night,” he said. 

“Anything happen?” Tao asked.

“No? I mean, nothing beyond the usual kind of rowdy crowd, ‘cat calls’, and all that.” Baekhyun shivered. In their world, cat calls were more than a minor form of feline harassment, and where Kai and Baekhyun had mostly learned to tune it out, Kyungsoo was a little more sensitive. “He drank more than he should have, basically. But then, we all kind of did. It just gets to him more…”

Baekhyun yawned, and Tao relented, giving him a gentle push in the direction of the stairs before he walked back into the living room. He passed Sehun in the door way and but his attention was focused entirely on the cat and the other human. 

“What a night!!” Kyungsoo railed, loudly. Joonmyun looked up apologetically. He’d gotten Kyungsoo as far as the couch and he perched next to the squirming cat, valiantly attempting to keep Kyungsoo was hitting him.

“This is the shit life! Isn’t it great! Joonmyun isn’t it great?! Tao isn’t it great!”

As if he'd vaguely realized he was home, Kyungsoo started smiling like some sort of devil incarnate. Somewhere between the bar and the cab ride home he’d managed to undo the top few buttons of his shirt. His fingers locked on the skin now showing, his human-like nails digging into the flesh as he attempted to pull more of the shirt off. 

Joonmyun rushed to contain him. “Woah. Woah, buddy! Let’s not strip just here, okay?”

“Why not! You don’t want to see me naked!?”

“Uhhh... why don't we get you upstairs and to sleep instead?” Joonmyun offered. 

Tao couldn't tear his eyes away from them, particularly the cat. He'd never seen Kyungsoo this way. The effects of alcohol had turned an otherwise mild-mannered and deadpan cat into a raving monster. He cackled on the couch and then cried, and then laughed some more. 

“Joonmyun I know your type. Middle aged and unhappy.” He pointed his finger into the man’s chest, poking enough times for Joonmyun to draw back a few inches. “You’re a cat person, aren’t you, Joonmyun. How come you don’t own a cat? Aren’t you the type to want companionship? Wouldn’t you like it if I moved in? Kept you company…?”

Tao's eyes widened, and for the first time he was aware of Sehun standing behind him. Instincts told him he should shove the guy out the front door so as not to witness this scene, but he found himself frozen in his spot instead. Whether or not Sehun saw this trainwreck waiting to happen was now beyond his abilities to prevent. 

Joonmyun was quickly reaching the end of his limits. “Kyungsoo, let’s stop this… You’ve had too much to drink…” he pleaded, his eyes darting at the two others in the room.

“Of course I’ve had too much to drink! Why shouldn’t I drink! I’m twenty-five, and what have I done with my life? Nothing! Nothing! Can’t even get adopted by the likes of humans like you!” he spat. The fight went out of him then as quick as it had come, and he started to sob. 

Joonmyun also looked ready to cry. 

“What’s wrong with me, huh? I’m a good cat. A perfect cat. Who wouldn’t want me!” Kyungsoo clawed at his shirt, shrieking when once again Joonmyun grabbed and held his hands inert. “You don’t want to see this!? You’re sure? You know I look good for a cat! It’s one of our best features. Made and manufactured, bred to look as appealing as possible. And you know what the best part is?! I’ll look this way until I die! Ten years! Just give me ten years! I won’t even age and grow ugly like you, Joonmyun. I’ll look so fucking perfect in my casket, the mortician won’t have any work to do!” 

Kyungsoo struggled so much in Joonmyun’s grip that he wasn’t aware of the tears flowing freely down his face. He pulled and shrieked and cried, and still Joonmyun held on until the moment when Kyungsoo stopped and they looked at each other. Really _looked_ at each other. Instantly Kyungsoo froze, and he wept and covered his eyes. Joonmyun’s face wasn’t unblemished either. He dared once more glance at Tao and Sehun, the two frozen in the doorway shoulder to shoulder, and shook his head for them to leave. They both retreated backwards a few steps at a time, though there was no place to really go to. Out of Kyungsoo's sight was as much as Tao could offer. By this time Jongdae appeared in the opposing hallway, wide eyed and scared, but Tao was separated from him by the scene in between.

A little violently, because it was the only way he could get Kyungsoo up, Joonmyun hoisted the cat’s body into his arms and heaved him up off the couch. ”Coming through,” he told the Tao and Sehun gruffly as they once again moved out of his way. Joonmyun’s heavy steps lumbered up the stairs and he disappeared around the landing. 

Jongdae came instantly to meet them and he gazed alternately up the stairs, frightened by what he'd witnessed, and then startled at the two remaining figures. 

“What... was that?” he asked. Immediately he shook his head. “Nevermind. Uh, maybe I should go check on them. Are you okay, Tao?”

The kitten nodded glumly, even though his tongue seemed stuck to the roof of his mouth and his stomach didn't feel so good. 

“I should go.”

They looked suddenly at Sehun, Tao like he'd forgotten he was there, and Jongdae as if he was seeing him for the first time this evening. Both were shocked at what they saw: tears leaking from Sehun's eyes and he refused to look at either of them directly. His hands faltered on the door handle so badly that Jongdae had to help him open it and once open, Sehun was gone. 

Tao and Jongdae stood alone in the foyer, both unsure if they should stay below or go upstairs, and at least Tao was conflicted whether or not he should stay inside or rush after Sehun. Another shrill cry and a whole lot of sobbing echoed down the stairs though, and the human outside became the least of his worries, even if he never left his thoughts.

 

 

{Who Knows Anything About Cats}

 

 

Luhan didn’t sleep that night. How could he when Minseok was awake all night as well, sitting by Kyungsoo’s side and alternating between holding the crying, sobbing cat and rubbing his ears while he drifted in and out of sleep. Minseok had intercepted Joonmyun and directed him to place Kyungsoo in their room. It was Luhan who then persuaded Joonmyun that the best thing he could do right now was go home. He sent the distraught man out of the room and guided him to the door, endless words of ‘It’ll be okay. Minseok’s got him now. We’ll take care of him tonight,’ before Joonmyun finally consented and went to his own home. ‘We’ll call you tomorrow if you need to come over, okay?’

Luhan felt more than sorry for the man. It was sad and pitiful and there could have been an easy fix to this a long time ago, except Joonmyun messed it up without even realizing it and Kyungsoo was a stubborn cat. Luhan should know; he grew up with him after all, and he was only three years older. 

Kyungsoo had been a shy kitten who didn’t easily make friends, and Luhan was equally so. Instead of that commonality drawing them together, however, it kept them apart. Two like minds, and they never really meshed, like school children who saw each other every day and slept in the same dorm rooms every night but never became good friends. Luhan kept to the few cats closer to his age, and Kyungsoo was befriended by another cat closer _his_ age.

He still knew everything about him though, or at least he knew where the differences lie. While Luhan was always off daydreaming about a better life without a grounded thought on how to achieve it, Kyungsoo grew up plotting exactly what was going to happen to him. He would be adopted right on his eighteenth birthday to some nice family, and he hoped they had some kids he could play with. No other cats, because that would make things fussy, and he didn’t really want to share. He’d live in some nice little home and he didn’t technically need his own room, but a cot would be enough and he would eat and sleep and play all day, and always have someone to look out for him.

Luhan knew all this because he found Kyungsoo’s journal once. Laid out and open with small doodles of Kyungsoo’s perfect future family. Luhan had run out as soon as he heard the other cat returning. He knew it’d be worth at least a smack on the head if he was caught, even if was an accident. The shy little kitten had grown up quiet but determined, and when messed with he would not hesitate to retaliate. Kyungsoo didn’t like people messing with his routine. He had a purpose in life, and that was to act the part of the perfect cat so he could get himself the perfect family. Luhan had even caught Kyungsoo once talking to administration, begging them to put him on the fast track and maybe get him out when he was sixteen. Anything to be out of this place so he could begin his new life as soon as possible. The then fifteen-year old cat was so determined and hopeful.

The twenty-five year old cat was still determined, but depressed.

The sun had yet to come up, but finally Kyungsoo was sleeping soundly. Minseok laid curled around him with his eyes closed, but Luhan knew he wasn’t asleep. For once Luhan slept on his own bed, alone. He didn’t like it so much but he wasn’t going to begrudge Kyungsoo a little company, and Minseok had complained and said Luhan moved around too much while he slept. So instead he just laid awake and watched the two on the other side of the room, jealous, but not really.

He’d been just as hopeful as Kyungsoo once. At eighteen he thought he would leave the agency, and then at nineteen he still thought the same. He was twenty when cats younger than him started getting adopted, and his own friends were already gone. Then at twenty-one he and Kyungsoo sat in the adoption booth at the same time for the first time ever. But Kyungsoo’s one friend Hyungsik was adopted before them both, and another year passed. They were the last cats remaining when the agency closed down and Yixing came for them. A whole year where Kyungsoo cried in his sleep and they both tried to reason why they, two perfectly nice and beautiful cats, had yet to be adopted. 

By the time he was twenty-two Luhan was ecstatic to be leaving, even if it wasn’t for the reason he always assumed. Life in a shelter home with other cats, and he could be somewhat free and not have to worry about his future – it all seemed like heaven when Yixing explained it. The only thing missing, when Luhan entered his new house, suitcase in hand and apprehension on his features, was an owner to welcome him home, and he knew Kyungsoo would feel the same. The only difference was, Luhan found Minseok in that house, while Kyungsoo found no one. 

Luhan pushed off his bed and languidly strolled over to the other bed.

“Minseok,” he whispered gently in the other cat’s ear. “Minseok why don’t you sleep now? Okay? I’ll watch him now.”

The cat opened his eyes and blinked. Wordlessly Minseok nodded and he yawned as he sat up, tail darting around because he was too tired to control it. Luhan assisted him over to the other bed and pulled a blanket over him. He placed one small kiss behind Minseok’s ear and eased him into sleep. Then he returned to Kyungsoo and crawled up behind him. The younger cat mewled in his sleep and Luhan inhaled softly, hoping he hadn’t woken him. But Kyungsoo only sighed and relaxed while Luhan pet his back and shoulders evenly until both of them drifted off into sleep.

 

 

Tao found them the next morning, tip-toeing in with Baekhyun on his heels to see how the night has passed. Minseok snored in his bed, and Kyungsoo was sprawled out and taking up every ounce of space on his bed. Luhan was on the floor curled around a single pillow, and when he opened his eyes at the opening of the door he looked startled and confused.

“What? How did I get --?” He looked up over the edge of the bed where one of Kyungsoo's arms hung off the side. “Oh.” Luhan sighed, and Kyungsoo began to rouse from his sleep. He sat up abruptly and shook the hair off his face and then fixed an angry, confused scowl on the two intruders in the doorway. 

“Why am I in Minseok's room?”

“Good question,” Luhan answered him from the floor. 

Kyungsoo noticed him then and seemed even more confused. “Okay... so why are you on the floor?”

“Because you apparently kicked me off the bed last night?”

“And what were you doing in my bed?”

Luhan yawned and scratched his head petulantly. “But it was _my_ bed,” he whined softly.

“Yeah? Then why isn't Minseok in it?”

“Shhhhh, not so loud. He's still sleeping,” Luhan worried in hushed tones.

The subject of their conversation snoozed on, Tao noticed gratefully. Luhan still stretched on the floor, and Baekhyun tip-toed in further to where Kyungsoo was sitting. “Soo, you okay? How's your head?”

“It's fine. Why, did Luhan beat me overnight?” Kyungsoo paused and thought about it. “Actually it hurts really bad...”

“Thought it might,” said Baekhyun. He stepped up to the bed to pull Kyungsoo out of it, locking his arm around and under Kyungsoo's shoulder. “Come on, there're some meds in the bathroom. Let's get you up.”

“Okay...” Meek Kyungsoo had returned and at Baekhyun's urging he followed him down the hall.

Tao heard Baekhyun ask as soon as they'd stepped out, “How's everything else feel? Do you remember what happened last night?” Tao and Jongdae had filled him in over breakfast.

“Uhm...” Kyungsoo's voice grew weaker as they trailed away. “Crap I think so.... Where... what did I say to Joonmyun?”

Tao and Luhan heard no more. 

“Want some help?” Tao offered, lending a hand to pull Luhan off the ground.

“Sure, thanks. Kitten strength. I miss the good old days.” He laughed.

Tao smiled. “So, why are you on the floor anyways?”

“I wiggle too much in my sleep... it annoys just about everyone. Honestly I'm not surprised Kyungsoo would kick me off even while he slept.” The older cat chuckled at himself and then stretched, and he chomped on his gums for a bit before remembering that Minseok was still sleeping. “Hey, I think we're gonna skip breakfast today. Minseok didn't sleep all night.” 

“Sure, I'll tell them. Uhm... we got this from here, ok? Sleep.” Tao reassured him, even though personally he didn't have a single clue what they were supposed to do today. He trusted Baekhyun to make Kyungsoo's head better, and Jongdae to feed him. Kai was already gone for the day, so perhaps later he could be obnoxious and pull some recognizable traits out of the depressed cat, and Tao... he just kind of felt in the way. 

Luhan thanked him anyway and patted him nicely on the shoulder, and then he crawled over to Minseok's bed and slid in. Tao backed out of the room and shut the door.

 

 

It was precisely Tao's feelings of inadequacy that sent him rushing out of the house after lunch. Kyungsoo was acting too much like his normal self, Baekhyun fussed over him constantly, which drove the two to bickering. Jongdae looked on helplessly and Tao had absolutely nothing to do. 

He'd missed his morning walk. It was too soon to pick up Kai, but Tao needed to go somewhere, and he had an inkling that he could find a certain place if he wandered correctly. He'd been there once after all, but only after a car ride and he wasn't sure he'd paid close enough attention. He did know in which general direction Sehun had walked home that one day though. He was certain he could find their house, and he had nothing better to do with his time than search.

After half an hour of wandering up and down three consecutive streets, Tao wished he'd asked somebody for an address, a street name, anything. He'd heard of this convention too known as calling people. Maybe he could have done that and gotten directions. Instead he was sweaty and tired in the noonday heat. His hair stuck up from the humidity and he was starting to get weird stares from some of the neighbors after he found himself in a dead end and had to double back. One more street sign stood off in the distance, however, and Tao made his way purposefully around to the next bend. Maybe if he looked like he knew where he was going, it wouldn't look so odd to see a hybrid cat roaming the streets unaccompanied.

“Jackpot.”

Halfway down the street he spied Yixing's house finally. He recognized it by the sad rose garden under the front window. Picking up his pace, he half-sprinted towards the house. He halted abruptly though on the sidewalk in front of it. What on earth was he doing here anyway? To see Yixing? He almost persuaded himself of this. After the night's drama, he surely needed some guidance from the retired cat counselor, and Yixing knew Kyungsoo well enough to help. Right?

He rang the doorbell, unconsciously expecting Jessica the housekeeper to open it. Or at least Yixing, and then he could tell the night's tale and pitifully ask for advice about what to do. As it turned out, the person he most wanted to see opened the door. Sehun squinted his eyes against the light invading his house, and he looked taken aback when he recognized who it was. A screened door stood between them, and Tao didn't know what to say.

“Hi.”

A long few seconds passed before Sehun even responded. ”Hi,” and he frowned. He opened the screen and Tao invited himself in. 

“My dad’s not here,” Sehun said almost at once.

“Oh.” That was indeed sad news, because now Tao didn’t know what he was supposed to say. “Okay then.”

“Did you want to see him?”

“I guess…”

“He’s in his office across town. He’ll be there all day though. I can take you to see him if you want.”

Tao panicked. “What? No, it’s okay. You don’t have to. I can wait!”

Sehun smirked, and the neat way his cheekbone seemed to want to connect to his eye gave Tao the urge to look away.

“I can take you,” Sehun repeated. “Just let me get something. I need to drop off a hardcopy of my essay at school, but it’s on the way there. If you don’t mind a short detour.”

Tao could find no words to contradict Sehun’s plans. Not with Sehun disappearing into the back of the house, then stalking back to drop off his school bag by the door. He then secured the dogs in the backyard – not before one of them tried to come and greet Tao – and then they were off, Tao in the passenger seat of a car that was marginally nicer that Suho’s, but not by much.

It smelled like dogs. And also the aroma of something sweet and that had since turned sour. Tao tried not to notice it, but when he elbowed a plastic cup with a ½ inch of pink milky substance and a few balls of tapioca that had long come to room temperature and then boiled in the car for who knows how many days, Sehun didn’t even flinch. “Oh yeah, forgot to finish that drink. Remind me to toss it when we get to campus.” Tao tried hard not to gag.

The whole drive took less than fifteen minutes on the freeway. Tao settled for staring at traffic and the city as it passed by, instead of at the man driving. Neither attempted anything at conversation since Sehun’s full concentration was on the road, and his mirrors, and sometimes glancing sideways at his passenger, but Tao was pretty sure he was just watching to see if Tao did anything embarrassing or cat-like. He kept perfectly still, only regarding Sehun through the reflection in the side window whenever he thought the other wasn’t looking.

They parked behind a large complex of buildings. Sehun unbuckled and opened his door; Tao did not.

“Are you coming?”

“I can wait,” Tao said dryly.

“You’ll boil in the car. Come on.”

“I can roll down the window.” Tao pointedly didn’t make eye contact.

“Not with the engine already off, you can’t. Hurry up. I won’t make you walk half a block behind me, but I’m also not going to wait around for you to catch up.”

Tao grumbled and held his tongue about how easy it was to turn the car back on for a second to allow Tao to roll down the windows. All in all though, the day was warm, and without a hint of moving air coming across the pavement. Not that it was any better out in the sun, thought Tao. Still, might as well be miserable moving, then miserable sitting still.

He didn’t dare to walk right next to Sehun. Instead Tao opted to walk just off to his side, close enough that he was probably in the man’s periphery but not elbow to elbow. It was mid-afternoon at the university on a Friday and there were still plenty of students milling around. None of them, Tao noticed sadly, were anything other than fully human.

He was conscious of his tail. Of his ears. Of the fact he didn’t have a single garment to cover either portions of his anatomy. He also knew that cats didn’t go to college. Cats didn’t go to school period, and he read that in all of their faces, the ones who noticed his existence, the ones who stared curiously at him as if to ask themselves what on earth a hybrid was doing on campus walking around like a normal human.

Sehun paid them no mind. He did, however, laugh once when he glanced at Tao and his downturned ears. “Relax. You look like a fugitive. They’re not going to lynch you, you know.”

“They’re all staring though.” He didn’t mean to say it out loud. It just slipped off his tongue in fearful whispers.

“Yeah, and you’re making it worse by looking like a scaredy cat.”

“I’m not…”

“Yeah, you are. Now quit it and act natural.”

“Easy for you to say. Nobody’s staring at you for being weird.”

Sehun scoffed but kept on walking. “Oh trust me. I’m used to people staring.”

“Yeah? At what?” Tao expect some kind of answer, but Sehun’s mouth was shut and his face drew a blank. He concluded, under his breath and more to himself than to Sehun, “At least you don’t have a tail.”

“But you do, and you swish it so nicely.”

Sehun’s remark was all taunt and finely veiled sneer. Given a choice, Tao would have stopped walking altogether, or maybe even baited Sehun back with something else just as insulting, but his head was spinning and the day was hot, and if he quit moving now there was no guarantee Sehun would wait for him to catch up. In fact he was sure Sehun would have no problem abandoning him in the middle of the campus, and as a hybrid alone, this was the last place Tao wanted to get lost in. Not every one of the students’ stares had been pure curiosity. Some of them were jeering, probing; one or two had even looked lustful, if Tao recognized that emotion correctly, fearfully.

He should have gone home when Yixing hadn’t been at his house. He should never have agreed to this ridiculous trip, and it wasn’t worth tagging along with Sehun when he didn’t really even have an endgame. Talk to Yixing? Is that what he wanted to do. Sure he could find something to ask him about. He’d probably have no trouble explaining what happened the night before with Kyungsoo, but was it really his to talk about?

The kittens. He wanted to talk to Yixing about the kittens. But he could have waited. He didn’t have to endure this kind of public trial, not on a day when he was already worked up and generally bewildered at a cat’s purpose in life.

He held his tongue and bit down on his bottom lip, and Sehun didn’t talk to him anymore. They passed a few more buildings before Sehun lead them through a side door of a larger complex. The plaque on the door read Education Wing and Offices. Down a narrow hallway and through a larger foyer, up four flights of stairs and snaking again through a maze of offices they went. Tao abandoned Sehun’s side and instead now walked several feet behind him, and neither said anything about the new arrangement.

Sehun paused and knocked at a door that read ‘Education Studies. Professor Kim Ukwon’ followed by his office hours. An answer came from within, and Sehun opened the door to messy little office revealing a thirty-something year old professor with a crafted mess of brown hair and a lollypop stick between his lips.

“Professor,” Sehun greeted him formally.

Professor Kim smiled between pressed lips, removed the stick from his mouth, and stood up from behind his desk. “Sehun. You made it. Got your essay like you promised?”

“Yes, sir. Sorry it took a little longer than I said it would.”

“No problem. No problem.” The professor casually made his way forward, perched a hand on Sehun’s shoulder and then noticed the hybrid in the doorway. “Friend of yours?” he asked with earnest curiosity. Tao cringed on reflex anyways.

“Uh, this is Tao. He’s my… neighbor,” said Sehun with some awkwardness. Tao could guess why. They weren’t exactly friends, were they? And calling each other neighbors was a generous term as well. Professor Kim didn’t seem to notice though.

“Tao,” the older man repeated. He offered a hand which Tao gingerly shook. “Nice to meet you. This boy here is my favorite student. Well, one of them at least. _This year_ at least,” he amended with a cheeky smile towards Sehun.

Tao smiled politely. He didn’t exactly have anything to add, because what kind of small talk was he supposed to say about the professor’s supposedly favorite student this year. ‘Uhm, great. Because he’s obnoxious and mean and I guess this is what you expect from your next generation of teachers?’ Indeed, Tao would do best to keep his own counsel.

Tao missed a few of their exchanges while he ruminated. Something about Sehun apologizing once again for missing the deadline and more denials from the professor refusing to penalize him.

“That’s okay. It’s okay. Personally I wasn’t too keen on your first topic anyways. This was a much better one, if you don’t mind me saying so. And of course now I understand your inspiration. But anyways, let’s have it, your paper, and I’ll let you two get out of here and have some fun.”

Tao wanted to protest. They weren’t in any hurry to have fun. He and Sehun were barely tolerating each other as it was, and he guessed from Sehun’s expression that the boy had to be thinking the same thing. Shyly, Sehun opened up his book bag on a chair and pulled out a folder. He put his back to Tao and extracted a small document. Tao tried not to peek. Truthfully he was suddenly drawn to a frame on the professor’s bookshelf showing himself arm in arm with another man younger than him with dimples in both cheeks and fluffy blond hair. Only the second man had ears that matched Tao’s own. And a tail that disappeared off frame.

Professor Kim was friends with another cat?? As in, really close with another hybrid cat? The photograph was so intimate Tao had to look away, even as the man caught him looking. He smiled, Tao flinched, and Sehun missed the whole thing. Then the professor winked, and for reasons unknown, Tao felt himself starting to blush red.

Fortunately Sehun distracted the man by passing over his paper, cover page turned upside down, and Professor Kim smirked knowingly. He took it though and gave the first page an eye before laying it right side up on his desk. Tao had just enough time to read half of the title, _Where Education Fails: A Cultural Study of Hybrid ‘Education’ and_ – before Sehun ushered him out of the office.

The professor called his goodbyes down the hallway and Sehun didn’t stop. He marched them down the stairs and into the main foyer while Tao’s head was still reeling. 

What are you writing, and why? he wanted to ask.

Why are you even dragging me around with you?

I could have stayed in the car but you made me go inside.

Why does it look like your professor is in a relationship with a hybrid?

Does any of this have anything to do with me?

Or doesn’t it.

Or if it does, then why?

Can’t we just go see Yixing now?

Can I just ask to go home now?

He didn’t notice when Sehun pulled up abruptly at the bottom of the stairs and Tao nearly rammed into him from the back. A small group of students lounging on the sofas on the ground floor had taken notice of them.

“Hey, hey! Sehun!” called the loudest of them, a boy with dark hair and a mischievous sneer on his face. “I see you got yourself a catboy there!” A few of the girls and another boy snickered evilly.

“Ignore them,” Sehun whispered to Tao fiercely. He started to walk past but another jeer was sent their way before they could get further out of earshot.

“Did you take him to see your precious cat-loving professor? Needing approval, are we?”

“Hey, I heard those things get pretty wild every couple of months!” shouted another student. Is it true? Are you sure you can handle him? He looks fierce!”

“Fierce as a baby kitten,” snickered the first boy.

Sehun’s pace sped up exponentially as Tao struggled to stay right behind him.

“Hey if you need any help handling him, you know where to find us!” was the last thing they heard before Sehun thrust Tao in front of him and shoved him out of the building first.

Tao’s heart raced, and Sehun looked furious. But not at him, Tao was shocked to realize. Once outside Sehun kept speed-walking, so that Tao was forced to take long, awkward strides and skipping at every other step to keep up. Halfway back to the parking lot he slowed by a fraction and Tao resumed his place at his side just a shoulder’s width behind.

“Sehun…” he tried to say.

“Don’t.”

“But… huh?”

“Just don’t pay any attention to the things they said, okay?”

That wasn’t what Tao was going to ask, but, “Okay.”

“They’re just a bunch of bigots who talk shit all the time and they don’t know _anything_ about cats. _Anything!_ So just… forget all that crap. Okay?”

“Okay,” Tao repeated. His words felt like they were on autopilot, because that wasn’t the problem. He knew why it made him mad, because those kinds of people were exactly the type of humans that made Tao want to stay indoors and hide away. Why his parents and then his master had kept him shielded all those years when he lived on the ranch and had old-fashioned guests over; the reason why he was occasionally asked to go upstairs to his room and wait things out and he gladly went. Tao knew why it made him mad.

But why was Sehun so mad?

They stood by the car when Tao realized he’d asked that question out loud. Sehun stopped in his tracks, and he fumbled with his keys, and with his words as his lips moved but no sound came out. He found the right keys, and the car chirped as the doors were unlocked. Sehun still hadn't rounded over to the drivers' side though. He stood awkwardly next to Tao's door, and he blocked it just enough that Tao couldn't open it without hitting him. 

“Just don’t listen to them.” Now Sehun was repeating himself aimlessly.

“I… won’t,” Tao said. Sehun took a step closer to him. “It’s not a big deal to me. I’m kind of used to it, I guess.”

“You shouldn’t be though.”

Tao sighed. “I know, but…”

“Stupid humans and the way they talk,” Sehun grumbled and he took another step towards Tao, his inner turmoil apparently not allowing him to recognize personal boundaries. He was nearly blocking Tao against the car, back to the door and nowhere to move.

“It’s okay…”

Except it wasn’t really. Not with Sehun so close. From his height Tao only saw the fringe of Sehun’s downturned head, and not the face hiding below it. One of his hands braced against the car by Tao’s side, while both of Tao’s hands rested palms down on the car door, holding him up. The surface of the metal burned to the touch, but he had to hold on a little while longer. Especially when Sehun lifted his head and his face magically surfaced just inches from Tao’s. He didn’t look him in the eyes. All Tao saw was a strong but small nose, and Sehun seemed more interested in his jaw and cheekbones. Anything but each other’s eyes.

Tao’s palms burned finally and he released them with a gasp of relief, which Sehun misinterpreted as something else. He started to pull back when they met eye to eye. Sehun froze and Tao held his breath. His hands hung limply by his side but he still had the power to move. The muscles of his lower black clenched as he pressed forward off the car, moving slowly and slowly closer towards the other man who hadn’t moved, hadn’t shifted, hadn’t even breathed.

With half a inch to spare, Sehun finally breached the gap and claimed Tao’s lips. 

 

 

{Age Is But a Number}

 

 

The house was oddly quiet that afternoon. Tao had run out for a walk and hadn't come back; Kyungsoo was sulking, partly embarrassed and mortified about his tirade last night, and the other sulking because he couldn't take it back and he didn't know what to do. He kept wandering the house and walking in circles trying to find something productive to do, and Jongdae just shadowed him, sometimes being helpful and sometimes not. He dodged most of Kyungsoo's attacks in an oddly familiar manner. Minseok and Luhan slept the day away.

Baekhyun would stay indoors and complicate things, but he already had a knot on his head for suggesting Kyungsoo go over and apologize to Joonmyun, and he wasn't interested in earning a matching bump on the other side of his head. In any case, his plants needed attention.

He hadn't done much with the new raised garden bed since Chanyeol helped him build the frame and fill it with new soil. Truthfully, at this point in the year there wasn't much he could do with it except put in some sun-resistant flowers. He'd placed his orders and the handyman was supposed to show up this time today with the plants. Anything so that Baekhyun wouldn't have to leave the house. He wasn't an "errand" type of cat.

Chanyeol was late though. Baekhyun had nothing to do except wait, so he sat himself down by the side of the house and rested his head on the newly cut wood frame. His hair would probably be coated in dirt when he got up, but that didn't matter. At least it would shady for a little while longer, and there was a nice breeze and no birds singing. 

Force of habit, but his hand flitted to his back pocket of the tattered work slacks he wore and pulled out a worn photograph. The wallet-size picture was one of two of his most treasured possessions, the only things he'd acquired during his stay with his once-upon-a-time family, and the only thing he carried away. He'd had two photos once: the first a simple candid shot of himself with the two little girls he'd come to love and care for, their faces shining and bright as they climbed all over the cat and his tail wrapped protectively around them. He lost it though, somewhere along all the moves from house to agency, from agency to shelter home. At least he still remembered what they looked like. And at least he hadn't lost the second photo: the one of him being hugged by the human boy who'd loved him.

Baekhyun didn't realize he'd fallen asleep, neck still pitched forward awkwardly from the edge of the flower bed, and the photo still clutched in his hand. It was now worn-down and dog-eared and a little bit brown around the edges from Baekhyun's perpetually dirty fingers, but still the image was recognizable. 

The loom of Chanyeol's shadow tugged him awake, and Baekhyun crinkled his eyes at the image. 

"Sleeping?" the man asked stupidly with a grin on his face. "Guess that means you don't want to take care of these flowers, huh?"

Baekhyun snorted and pushed off the framework. "Yes, please. Just put them in the dirt and water them while I go and finish my nap."

"Absolutely. Right away. So, the leafy ends go in first and the roots stick out, correct?" Chanyeol joked.

Baekhyun swatted him with the hand still holding the photo. It fluttered out from his fingers and hit the ground. Before he could reach for it, Chanyeol bent over and retrieved it. With a straight face that belied a little smirk, his eyes passed over the photograph as he lazily handed it back. Baekhyun didn't say anything and shoved it back in his pocket. It wasn't the first time Chanyeol had caught him daydreaming with the picture in hand. Baekhyun didn't need to answer for it again. He wasn't usually so careless about literally flaunting the proof of his past love. Some stories after all were better left to the verbal imagination, and besides, he was pretty sure half the cats thought the story was fake ayways. He kind of liked it that way. Then he could almost pretend it was fake too. 

"You gonna snooze some more or...?" Chanyeol grinned.

"Shut up, and let's see if you brought the right plants this time."

 

 

The tingling of Tao's lips had almost worn off, five minutes later sitting awkwardly in the car next to Sehun, neither of them speaking. Ten minutes passed and still neither of them speaking. Tao should have asked, wanted to ask, what was that whole thing even about? Why did Sehun suddenly lean forward and kiss him, and why had he suddenly pulled back, embarrassed and flushed and refusing to make eye contact, and all of Sehun's former rants suddenly forgotten. Tao wanted to ask, but then he'd have to ask himself the same thing. Why had he suddenly leaned into closer to Sehun? Why did he wait so expectantly to be kissed? Why didn't he pull away but actually reciprocate for half a moment or more? Was it longer? He couldn't tell anymore. Time was starting to run together and then away, like the blur of the city through Sehun's car window and the silence was heavy. 

The office before which Sehun finally stopped the vehicle was a tiny suite squished in between two larger and far more prestigious looking lawyers' firms. The small lettering above the black tinted glass door read:

Zhang & Liu Hybrid Activists

Sehun pushed in the door, and a bell jangled above their heads, but nobody was there to welcome them. The room was sparsely furnished with just a small round table and some chairs where a receptionist's desk might sit, but no receptionist. There was a free-standing filtered water fountain off to the side, and a magazine rack loaded with periodicals and newspapers, all of which showed at least one or a couple hybrids on the cover. The walls stood bare except for a few framed article clippings. One looked particularly old, judging by the much younger Yixing on the cover surrounded by a group of smiling young women, all with cat ears and tales. "Feline hybrids enjoying freedom for the first time in their lives" read a portion of the article title. Another cut-out looked more recent and revealed a thirty-something human woman with short blond hair. The camera had captured her standing before a courthouse leading a protest with signs supporting Hybrid Rights. 

Someone cleared their throat and Tao looked quickly away, and right into the face of a the woman he'd just been staring at. 

"Impressive, isn't it?" she said, inclining her head towards the article.

Tao nodded, even if he wasn't sure why.

"We had nearly a hundred people come out to support that day. Gosh, has it been a year now? Impressive feat for this day and age, and I made the front cover of the Chronicle. Too bad I forgot to bring a kitten along. Reporters just love it when you're holding up a baby, doesn't matter the species."

Tao's jaw must have dropped, because the woman quickly laughed huskily. 

"Just joking! I wouldn't take kittens out to events like that." She moved forward and held out her hand. "I'm Amber, by the way. Yixing's partner. Well, partner before he retired. Not that he acts like a retiree these days." 

"Tao," the hybrid responded lamely. 

"Ah, so you're Tao. Heard about you. I see Sehun brought you by, so I expect you two want to see your dad?" she inquired of the other man. 

"Yes," Sehun replied curtly, almost rudely. 

Amber must be used to this though, that or completely immune. She snorted and proceeded to arm wrestle him around the neck and Tao was shocked to see him the usually proud man so suddenly in submission, even with the angered scowl on his face. He howled in discomfort though.

"Oh stop your whining and lighten up," said Amber and she let go. "Your dad's in his old office." Sehun stood up and his face flushed completely red. He wouldn't make eye contact with Tao. 

"Thanks," Sehun choked.

Amber winked at Tao when he passed. "And if you ever need to handle that one, that's how you do it."

Surely Sehun heard her, but he was choosing to ignore it. Tao followed him down the hall, face now flushed himself, and because they still hadn't talked about the kiss, the tension was even more awkward than before. 

Thankfully Yixing called out to them from the end of the hall where he could see them coming from his desk. "Sehun? Tao? What brings you two here? And together?"

"He wanted to see you," Sehun explained without preamble. "Uhm, I'll just wait in the lobby." And then he was gone, back the way they'd come. 

Yixing watched him go with a bemused smile, then quickly remembered his guest and offered Tao a seat. He came around from behind his desk, shut the door, and took a seat next to him so they could talk without it feeling so formal. "So? I assume there is a story here, since Sehun drove you all the way, yes? But anyways, what brings you here?"

That question took Tao back to his original dilemma nearly an hour ago. He wanted to find Yixing, but he ran into Sehun instead, and it he wasn't sure what he wanted from either of them exactly. There was something to do with Kyungsoo and Joonmyun, and then Sehun kissed him, and some other things happened in between. His head was a mess, and he wanted Yixing to clear it for him.

"Uhhh..."

"Did you want to talk about the agency we'll go to on Sunday?" Yixing asked, throwing him a literal bone.

"Yes!" Tao responded a little too quickly.

Yixing smiled. "Well, good. Good. The kittens, yes..."

Tao listened politely, trying to take it all in, but there wasn't much to know right away. This particular agency housed two mixed litters of kittens, the youngest all under the age of three, and the next batch between the ages of ten and twelve. 

It was hard trying to decipher what facts were actually useful when Yixing talked himself in circles, once again explained their purpose of trying to adopt the kittens out as children and not as pets. Tao had heard most of it from their talk over dinner a week ago, and the only new information Yixing really had was that Tao and Jongdae would only go in to socialize with the youngsters in transition. His wandered back to Baekhyun's comment about mature cats being purchased as babysitters, and Tao thought he was singularly unqualified for the task. He could barely interact with humans, much less help to ready kittens for living with humans.

"Something else on your mind?" Yixing was too intuitive, because indeed Tao's mind had wandered.

"No? I think that was about it. I uhm... well, we... stopped by the university on the way here."

Yixing raised his eyebrows curiously. "Did you now?"

"Y-yes. Sehun had to drop off a paper."

"Ohh, so you met Professor Kim then?"

Tao nodded, and Yixing smiled knowingly.

"Another good man. One of those intellectual activists we need to have around from time to to time and in some of the more delicate matters, in case Amber's brawn just isn't as effective." He winked.

Tao really had to give credit to Yixing for keeping the subject light, because Tao was pretty sure the older man knew what he was getting at. He just didn't know the right words for asking. 

Tao cleared his throat, then as nonchalantly as possible said, "That P-professor Kim... he's friends with another hybrid? There was a picture..." His voice drained off, to embarrassed to ask what it was he really thought. Once again though, Yixing already knew.

"Aww, you mean Minhyuk?" Yixing smiled nicely. "Yes, they've been together for a long time now. Minhyuk came as a boy to the Kim Family. They practically grew up together."

Tao nodded quickly. That made a whole lot more sense now. Humans and cats growing up together would make them close, like brothers. That had to be the only option, after all-

"And now they're inseparable," Yixing continued. "Some people are just made for each other, no matter the species."

Made for each other... Tao's head swam a bit, and he suddenly pictured Minseok and Luhan day in and day out. So perfectly in tune to one another's thoughts and feelings that it was almost incredible. His thoughts shifted abruptly though to Kyungsoo, and he finally remembered the reason he left the house in the first place.

"Can I ask a question?" His ears dropped, anxious even to ask this much.

"Yes, anything."

"Can hybrids and humans really be together?" 

"Of course. I just mentioned one such couple, for instance. Or were you asking hypothetically?"

"I mean, someone like Kyungsoo and... J-Joonmyun..."

Yixing chuckled in a way that told Tao the dilemmas of those two were nothing new to the man. Before he could say something, however, Tao continued.

"I mean too... with the age thing," he said in a small voice.

Yixing sat up in his chair and leaned in closer. "You mean a hybrid's life span? You're so young, Tao, to be thinking this way. But I suppose that's a question for the people in question."

"Ten years. Just give me ten years. I won't even age and grow ugly like you, Joonmyun," Kyungsoo had cried.

Tao didn't have a response, nor did Yixing press him into any. They sat quietly until Yixing remembered he had a cup of cold coffee still on his desk and he slurped a few steps before glancing again at the quiet, meditating cat in his office.

"You know, Tao. No life is guaranteed. I think you are referring to Kyungsoo and Joonmyun, and I'm well aware of how Kyungsoo feels his age and how he makes that his biggest hindrance to becoming attached. No one likes the thought of their partner going out before them, and no one likes the idea of going before their partner and leaving them all alone. Hypothetically though, Joonmyun could die tomorrow and then the roles will have been switched, and there's no preparing for such a thing. You shouldn't live like you're already expecting the end. That's not living."

He sighed and leaned back, placing the now empty coffee cup on desk, and Tao looked at him directly. He seemed older than he had been just a minute ago, but when he looked at Tao, he replaced his sighs with another hopeful smile and said, "This is something for both hybrids and humans to learn. I make this a focal point of my ministry... with mediocre results." He laughed. "But it's important, I think. Now think on it, and don't grow too depressed or else we'll have another Kyungsoo on our hands, and I don't know if Jongdae can deal with two of those!"

He jabbed a finger into Tao's side and pulled out the intended laugh. 

When he finally exited the room, Yixing at his heels, they found Sehun sulking in the lobby and currently in the middle of a serious interrogation by Amber. She stopped abruptly when they entered, and Sehun stood up quickly, his face a deep shade of embarrassed pink. Amber laughed, and Sehun pretended to ignore her completely.

"Ready to go?" he asked Tao in a rush. 

"Guess so."

Before Amber or his dad could say anything else he said, "Cool. I'll be waiting in the car." As if Tao would make him wait. 

Tao politely thanked Yixing again, and said his goodbyes to Amber. "It was nice to meet you."

She shook his hand profusely, and then made a fist and curled her arm up at neck level. "Remember how I said you can handle him!" Tao rushed out too, and refused to meet Yixing's face again. 

Tao tried to be chattier on the way back. 

"What other classes are you taking?"

"When do you graduate?"

"How old is this car?"

"What do you do for fun?"

Sehun replied to each in short word answers, and by the time they were back to their neighborhood Tao's questions had run dry. Apparently he wasn't going to get much out of the man now. Sehun had already run through his quota of sentences and emotions this day. 

They parked on the street in front of the shelter home, and Tao hadn't even asked for Sehun to drop him off at his doorstep. Sehun kept the engine running and his head forward. Even still Tao delayed, unbuckling his seatbelt and unlocking the car door. He didn't open it though. He was waiting, either for himself to get the courage to say something else, or Sehun to say something...

Fortunately, partially, Sehun saved him from having to speak first.

"Hey about earlier..." Sehun started, and then his voice trailed off. He mashed his bottom lip between his teeth and still didn't look sideways at Tao. 

"What about...?"

"Nah, never mind," Sehun concluded.

Tao snorted. 

"What?" Sehun asked suddenly, finally looking in his direction. 

Tao shook his head. "Nothing. Just... you. You're not really much like your dad, you know."

"What's make you say that?"

"The way you talk. Or rather, the way you rarely talk."

Sehun seemed to consider this for a moment. The engine was still running and he made no move to turn it off, nor to boot Tao from the car. Tao waited.

Finally Sehun said, "I guess that isn't much of a surprise. I am adopted after all. I guess you can say I was one of his first charity cases."

Tao's jaw dropped. "Do you really mean that?"

Sehun chuckled and dropped his head over the steering wheel. "No, not really... I'm just saying that. My parents couldn't have kids, that's why they adopted me." Without much of a pause, he continued, maybe to avoid the awkwardness. "So, I guess you'll be busy this weekend but..." And here he paused. "Want to hang out Sunday evening?"

 

 

{Birdies Beware!}

 

 

Yixing himself drove them to the soon-to-be-closed agency on Sunday morning. Tao followed Jongdae into the back of the car because Kai insisted if he was going he was riding shotgun. 

“He gets carsick easily,” Jongdae tried to explain in a whisper. Kai heard him of course and denied it hotly. Jongdae gave Tao a knowing smile and the matter was ended. 

Yixing drove in relative silence for most of the way. When they neared the complex, however, he began listing some of the great inroads he and Amber had made in the way of adoption rules. 

“It’s going to be a long hard battle, but we’ve personally screened a half dozen families who want to do this: adopt hybrids as children, and not as pets. We’re being given specific license from the state government to try it out with the litters in this one agency. If it works out, then we can attempt to try it on a broader spectrum.” He seemed pleased with his work so far.

Kai remained impressed. “How young?” he asked, when Yixing mentioned a pair of twin girl kittens who were supposed to go home with their new family within a week.

“Eight,” Yixing answered.

“And are you positive the family is going to treat them right?” Kai questioned him impassively enough, but Tao heard the reserve in his voice, the disapproval.

“Of course. I screened them myself. We’ll also do regular visits, if it makes you feel better.”

He didn’t act like it made him feel better, but Kai let the subject drop into silence as they pulled up to the building. “It’s so young though,” he whispered when he crawled out of the car, Tao and Jongdae standing beside him. “I was sent out when I was fifteen and that… that was bad enough.” He balled his hands into fists by his side and looked stonily at the complex. Jongdae pressed his palm firmly into Kai’s shoulder and the three of them quickly jogged to catch up with Yixing.

They were met by a stern woman at the backdoor who Yixing greeted as Chaelin, the currently disgruntled manager of this particular agency. She greeted the hybrids with a politeness bordering on cold, and then let them sit in the lobby while she rounded up part of the staff. Yixing tried to explain her attitude. She ran a clean business, he said, but ‘clean’ in this industry did not mean profit. The stress of raising litters until they are eighteen was a huge financial burden, and unless a person was willing to make some shady backdoor deals, the agencies don’t necessarily make green at the end of the day. She would be out of a job when the agency was finally closed down.

“Bitter much?” Kai scoffed. “Because she couldn’t sell cats any younger than eighteen?” 

“Uncalled for, Kai,” Yixing warned him in a tone that made Tao’s hairs stand up on end. He stared down at the hybrid until Kai averted his eyes. Yixing was the perfect picture of a kindly old gentleman, but Tao was starting to learn that the man had a streak of authority when it suited him. He filed that piece of information away sometime, in case Tao ever had to remember it. He had a fleeting image of the man's son. Sehun too had that look that could stare a man (or a hybrid) down and make them feel small. He must have gotten it from his father. His adopted father, Tao amended. Not every trait was genetic, apparently.

Chaelin returned a few minutes later with a teenage human in tow. “This is Bobby, one of our volunteers. He’ll show your hybrids around and introduce them to the kittens.”

The human smiled cheerfully. Kai, however, bristled once more at the implied accusation of ownership. He wisely held his tongue though. Tao decided to give Jongdae a break at the comforting business, and this time he gave Kai a friendly pet, knotting his fingers through the white hairs on the back of Kai’s head. The older cat jumped at the touch and scowled when he saw it was Tao, but when one of Tao’s nails strayed over to Kai’s ear, he softened for a moment before shaking off the hand entirely and pretending he hadn’t liked it. Jongdae snorted silently at the two, and they followed Bobby out of the lobby. Tao savored his momentary victory.

“So I hear you guys will be visiting a lot for the next couple of weeks?” Bobby said when they were out of earshot. Yixing had stayed behind to talk business with Chaelin.

“First I’ve heard of that,” said Kai, “but I suppose so.”

“Yes,” Jongdae said stoutly. Tao kept silent. He was only along for the ride after all. Curiosity at the agency-hybrid life had gotten the better of him. 

Bobby paused outside of door that read Female Dormitory. “Well, either way it’s cool you guys are here. Always thought it would be a good idea to get actual hybrid volunteers. Just to play with the kittens. They’re super cute, but they think I’m strange because I don’t have a tail!” Bobby remarked happily.

There were only two girls left in the female wing. The rest of their litter had been transferred to another agency a year ago when all the financial woes had started. Tao learned that litters didn’t necessarily refer to kittens who’d been born of the same hybrid mom. Rather, that was just how kittens were grouped when they left the breeders and were assigned to an agency home.

“It’s rare to have twins like these actually,” Bobby explained. “If they happen, they’re usually separated at birth but Miss Chaelin insisted they come together. Good thing because they’re really close, and they’ll be going to the same home soon. Aww, I’m going to miss them.”

The eight-year-olds Choa and Way were playing happily in their room when the older hybrids got there. The first thing that struck Tao was how very cat-like they were in their infancy, more resembling of their original ancestor than the more human-like hybrids Tao lived with. Had he been that way? Tao wondered. He had no marker for his life though since he’d grown up as the only kitten on the estate. The girls had big wide eyes that stared through their guests, a little mischievous, a lot playful. They seemed at once shy and curious and that left them stranded somewhere between freeze-mode. Bobby had to crouch down next to them to get the first one to speak, and that was little Choa who finally greeted the older hybrids. 

“What’s your name?” her sister Way finally asked Kai, and Tao giggled to himself watching his usually stern housemate melt at the attention of the kittens. Way immediately took a liking to him and crawled into his lap when he sat down, demanding to have a book read to her.

Jongdae smiled at the sight of Choa playing chase with Kai’s tail, but remained aloof as he stood next to Tao. Finally he asked Bobby if there were other kittens and if they could see them. Kai looked occupied and shyly happy to be the center of attention. Even Tao thought Kai was in his element, the girls crawling all over him as he attempted to focus and read through the book. 

“Yep. Right this way,” said Bobby as he lead Tao and Jongdae out and down another hallway. “Okay, here is the male dormitory.”

“Got any teens in here?” Jongdae asked.

“Not yet. This litter hasn’t gotten so old.”

“Oh good,” Jongdae said. Tao questioned him with just a look. “Male teenage felines, Tao? You’re not so far removed that you don’t remember those days? Hell, I remember those days and I’m not proud.”

Now that Jongdae mentioned it, how long had it been for Tao since the days where his blood had frequently run flush and every scratching post was the best thing ever. He’d been parentless by then and his poor owner had had to explain a few facts about life, birds and bees and other embarrassing things, and then he’d given Tao plenty of space and free time to do whatever Tao needed.

Tao blushed, and that caused Jongdae to chuckle. He tapped a hand to Tao’s reddening cheek and started following Bobby down the hallway. 

“Yeah, now you’re remembering. Come on let’s go.” He shrugged, but continued talking. “Poor cats. Just one more proof that you’re not supposed to go messing around with lives in a laboratory. You know, Tao, this is where some humans get the idea about the hybrids’ mythical heat cycles. Some really do expect you to suddenly crave sex about once a month and it doesn’t matter where you get it from. And really it’s just leftover tales of the poor horny male teenager. Hybrids aren’t that much different from regular teenagers. It’s just a wiring malfunction from the test tube days that makes it worse on us. Most of it’s supposed to be over by the time we’re sixteen or seventeen though, hence why it’s only legal to sell hybrids after they hit eighteen.” Jongdae cringed.

Tao listened, storing away the facts. “Heat cycle? I’ve never even heard it called that.”

“It’s a mating drive. Female cats get it. Cat cats, not hybrids. And some other animals. Either way somebody was humane at least to spare our breed that. Humane… Hah. That word is still one to laugh at.” 

“How do you know so much of this?” Tao asked.

“Me? I just listen when Yixing talks. Or I listen when the older cats talk… There’s a world of knowledge in your elders, Tao,” he teased. 

Up ahead they heard the sounds of the kittens, mostly playful but quite rambunctious. 

“Ahh, and here we come upon our prey,” Jongdae declared. Bobby verified that there were still six boys in this wing, a full litter between the ages of six and eleven. “Ohh what innocence we’ll find,” he said. They stood before a window and watched for a moment. Several pillows and a trash bucket went flying across the room and at least two or more of the kittens howled in fury. Jongdae smiled, like the chaotic scene before them was actually a tranquil and bucolic heaven. “This is as good as it gets right here, Tao. Beautiful. After this a cat’s life is in constant turmoil and you have no idea where you’ll end up. How I envy them.”

If Jongdae wanted to call this scene beautiful then Tao had no call to contradict him. 

Jongdae was silent with a pleasant, hopeful expression. He flattened his smile into his most catlike, nodded at his reflection in the glass window and said to Bobby, “Can we go in?” Something large and heavy went flying across the room and hit a lamp that went clattering to the floor. To Tao Jongdae cried, “Alright. To war!”

 

 

It was mid-afternoon and half of the cats were gone. Chanyeol knocked on the door, waiting a whole two minutes for Kyungsoo to get off his computer and come let him in. Kyungsoo glared at him and gave him a lazy eye, and Chanyeol knew why. He could just have easily gone around to the back where Baekhyun was no doubt having his afternoon nap, but Chanyeol had a surprise and he wasn't too keen to give it away just yet.

“Is the upstairs shower still draining poorly?” he asked Kyungsoo.

“Yup. And it's disgusting. You try bathing in a tub with a constant two inches of dirty water.”

“I'm here to fix it. Don't fuss.” Chanyeol deliberated whether or not he could tease the cat any further. He decided he did dare. “You know you could always shower standing up. Then only your toesies would get contaminated.” He grinned, hoping his innocence would ward off retaliation. It didn't, and he had to jump backwards to avoid a fist. Chanyeol wasn't certain it didn’t have Kyungsoo's full strength behind it, and he didn’t want to find out. Not a cat in the house, not even Tao, would take a shower. It was a bath or nothing, and Kyungsoo in particular hated being reminded of his cat-like sensibilities.

“Falling water, Chanyeol? No thank you,” the hybrid replied. He settled for a seething glare since his punch had gone awry.

Chanyeol couldn't help pushing it further. “Gee, Soo, whatever do you do when it rains? Melt?”

Kyungsoo struck a pose. “Rain? I don't do rain. That's why houses exist.”

Chanyeol smirked as the other walked away. He was never properly cowed by the bristly little cat, a fact Baekhyun claimed would get him killed one day, but he refused to take the warning seriously. Kyungsoo was harmless, he hoped. 

It took Chanyeol no time to unclog the tub since a good bit of it was just hair and fur. He made a mental note to reroute some of the plumbing since the house was older, but it was a job for another day. He trekked back downstairs to inform Kyungsoo of the situation, and received barely a nod from the cat. Then he checked if Baekhyun was still outside, and confirming he was, Chanyeol crept through the house and back to his car from which he retrieved something from his briefcase.

He met Sehun then just as he closed the car door. The younger man had just parked his car in the driveway and froze like he’d been caught.

“Hey, Sehun,” said Chanyeol, amused at his deer-in-the-headlights-look. “Did you know I would be here today? I was just fixing a drain. I’m not even going to charge for such light work.”

Sehun cleared his throat and nodded. “Right. Well, then I guess… I don’t need to sign for a bill…”

Chanyeol chuckled. He hadn’t told Yixing he was coming over today. There was no way Sehun had come to cut a check, which left his purposes for being here entirely personal. Chanyeol had an inkling he knew why, and it all had to do with a certain youngster now living in the house.

“The other cats aren’t back yet,” he said.

“Huh?”

“Just the older ones are home. Kyungsoo, Baekhyun. I assume Minseok and Luhan too, but of course I haven’t heard a peep out of them since I got here.”

Sehun’s eyes glazed over. “Oh, I… well I needed to ask someone… something… so I’ll probably just wait inside.”

“Suit yourself.” He started to walk back to the front door, Sehun awkwardly in tow. “I need to double-check one more thing in the bathroom so… see you later.”

Sehun sat on the couch to wait [for Tao] while Chanyeol crept up the stairs again, this time walking right passed the bathroom. 

He paused outside of Baekhyun and Kai's bedroom, listening for a moment just in case he was wrong and Baekhyun was inside. No sounds were heard. Silently he pushed the door and let it fall open. 

It was common knowledge that Baekhyun didn’t spend much time in his assigned bedroom. Some nights he slept in here sure, but the room belonged more to Kai by virtue of occupancy, and it definitely looked like it. Kai, for all his troubles, had a thing for collecting stuff. Clothes, bags, figurines and knickknacks. Perhaps the most surprising of all was Kai’s small collection of music boxes. Chanyeol guessed they housed pop-up ballerinas and it made him laugh to imagine Kai sitting up in his room at night watching the little dolls twirl round and round. He never opened them up though to check. For one it would be prying, and also he didn’t want to ruin his fantasy if they weren’t pink tutu-clad ballerinas. Chanyeol by-passed the shelf where they all sat and hovered over Baekhyun’s bed.

The only real hint that Baekhyun lived in this room was a slightly rumpled comforter blanket bearing the hybrid’s imprint, the dresser where he kept his clothes, and a bedside table with a small drawer. Chanyeol didn’t hesitate to open it. Inside were kept the few possessions Baekhyun had acquired since moving into the house. It was a small pittance for someone who’d lived here nearly six years. His most prized thing was a pitiful shell necklace Jongdae had made once when he was bored, and all the cats had one, not just Baekhyun.

Chanyeol sighed and pulled out the envelope he’d fetched from the car. He’d braved a trip back home to get this for Baekhyun; braved the possibility of his parents or his older sister finding him creeping through the house. His parents were fortunately not home at the time, but his sister did find him and proceeded to nag him thoroughly. He couldn’t even tell if she was mad he was there, or mad he wasn’t coming home for good with an apology on his lips.

Regardless though, he wasn’t really welcome at ‘home’ and he hadn’t been in years; not since he ran away after a blow-up fight for dodging his parents' blistering expectations about every little thing and life in general. Depending on who told the story, he was kicked out. Chanyeol liked to say that he was the one who left first.

It gave him something in common with the hybrids he’d halfway attached himself too. All of them were forced to seek shelter at a pertinent time in their lives. It was part of the reason he wanted to help the hybrids with as much as he could. Fellow fugitives should stick together.

For Chanyeol, his high school temp job employer Sung Woo became what Yixing was to the cats: friend, mentor, provider when times turned bad. He’d started learning the trade just for fun and for petty cash. When Sung Woo offered though, he’d moved in with the man and his family and started learning the job for real. Now he ran a whole extension of the repair business and had an apartment all on his own. He was fine and pretty much happy now.

He didn’t like going home, didn’t like remembering the days of his youth. He did it for Baekhyun though. In a box under his bed in his old room was a stack of photographs. Chanyeol had been an amateur photographer when he was younger. He had piles of pictures and Polaroid’s. At least one of the stacks bound in rubber bands captured the endless scores of people from an old neighborhood barbecue. He’d had to sort through them all to find the one he guessed Baekhyun would want.

Chanyeol placed the envelope in Baekhyun’s open drawer. It was seven years old now, he estimated, that picture of a much younger Baekhyun sitting on a picnic blanket with two little girls crawling all over him, his two precious charges that he’d loved like family.

He closed the drawer and walked away.

Baekhyun would probably never acknowledge the present, but that was alright. Baekhyun had a mental block around his heart and memories. He never discussed the past, never talked about it with any detail, never smiled when it was brought up, and it hurt Chanyeol to witness it. How very different it was from when Baekhyun first moved into their neighborhood and was nothing but cheery smiles and a heart ready to love everyone and everything.

He lived in the present now, even if his life belonged in the past and the two worlds didn’t mesh because Baekhyun didn’t allow them too. It was as if Baekhyun had selective amnesia, the way he pretended he didn’t remember things, or the way the two of them pretended in front of the others that they hadn’t known each other before, that they’d been neighbors practically, and that Chanyeol knew everything that had happened to Baekhyun and that so-called ‘great love of his life’. 

When he went downstairs, Sehun had passed out on the couch; either that or he was pretending and so Chanyeol let him snooze. Baekhyun was finally awake though, and pacing around one of his fruit trees with a furious energy. A half-eaten fallen fruit, gnawed on by neither human nor cat, lay on the ground, and Baekhyun was pissed.

“Chanyeol!” he called Chanyeol lumbered out into the grass. “Hey, I think I have brilliant idea. Tell me if it’s brilliant idea.”

Chanyeol crossed his arms and waited for it.

“Firecrackers! Fireworks! And we can scare these wretched birds away for eternity!”

He laughed and cackled, and Chanyeol had to mirror his enthusiasm. “Brilliant! I love it! We can also blow up the neighborhood and burn down your trees while we’re at it. That’ll work too!”

Baekhyun snorted, his smile unchanged and as glorious as ever. “You’re no fun, Chanyeol. What am I going to do with you, huh? You used to be more fun than this. Tsk tsk. I’m ashamed for you.”

 

 

{People Always Love the Little Ones}

 

 

“Well, there you have it.” Chaelin started bundling up the stack of papers and figures and government projections outlining every detail of how her business was supposed to shut down in barely a couple months’ time. “Conclusion. I have to get these kittens adopted to real parents or they go to another agency.”

Yixing sighed as he ruminated, elbow on the edge of Chaelin’s desk. He rubbed his chin where a light grey stubble had started to settle in. He’d been too lazy this morning to deal with it. Then again, a man of his age ought to be allowed some leeway on his appearance. He told himself that anyway. It wasn’t like he had anyone especially to impress anymore. His wife had never liked him in a beard, and the one time he’d started growing a mustache she’d teased him mercilessly for attempting to grow whiskers like the cats he so loved. She was long gone now, but he pretended from time to time that she was still around, and whenever he got too lax, he imagined her nagging, loving voice.

“Remind me again of the parent prospectives?” Yixing said, shaking himself back to the present. The past was nice, but there were still kittens to worry about. 

“The twins’ paperwork is nearly finished... so are two of the boys’. The littlest ones are always the first kittens people take an interest to. But we’ve got solid interest in two others, a fifth hopeful, and unfortunately nothing yet for the oldest. Minsoo is still proving… a bit difficult when the visitors come by.”

“Still determined to be anti-social?” Yixing asked. Chaelin nodded. They’d spent a good bit of time discussing the eldest of the male litter. It was unfortunate but at twelve he was already the least likely to be adopted by parents who pictured cute and fluffy children, hybrid or no hybrid. But adding onto those factors, Minsoo wasn’t making it any easier on himself.

“He hissed at the last couple who came by,” Chaelin said.

Yixing raised an eyebrow. Hissing on its own wasn’t that damning. “But…?”

“And then he swiped at one of the men and drew blood? And then ran away and hid? Knocking over the baby on his way out?” 

Yixing chuckled. “Amateur. At least he could have started up an honest, solid cat-fight for show.” 

Chaelin sat back in her chair, interlocking her hands along the front of her stomach. “Yes, well he did that with the couple before them and ended up fracturing Chanhee’s tail bone when he tried to bend it in two.”

Yixing winced in sympathy, either for Chanhee, Chaelin, or the parents, he wasn’t sure which.

“Yeah,” Chaelin agreed. “It wasn’t pretty. I thought for sure those people would report us - not like there’s time for that anymore,” she added airily. 

“Shame you lost them though.” 

Chaelin smiled suddenly. “Oh no, they came back a few days later. They insist on taking Chanhee home, so all is good.”

Yixing smiled at this, and then begged for a few minutes to go and refill his coffee mug. They chatted nicely when he returned and waited for it to cool. Despite the stress in her life, the thirty-eight-year-old hybrid caretaker was doing a good job not becoming bitter at her failed venture. Yixing had known her for years of course, and expected nothing less. In fact he rather admired her. These days it was rare to even hear of an agency owner who could be considered a decent human being. It wasn’t an easy profession to make a profit — a fact Yixing knew well. It was why most turned to skirting the law with their hybrids living in squalor until they could be passed off as soon as possible. Yixing saw so many of those kinds of people; it was a treat to spend the morning with Chaelin instead.

It seemed Chaelin agreed. “Well that’s the business part of today. Tell me, Yixing, what’s going on in your life? How’s Sehun?”

He smiled. Finally a conversation Yixing could truly enjoy. He told her all about Sehun’s studies and school, and how his professor Kim Ukwon had called him up one day to rave about the excellent essay he’d turned in on hybrid education: _‘He’s got a future in this. I just want you to know.’_  
  
Before recently, Yixing hadn’t thought his son would ever show an interest in the same kind of work. He’d never pushed it, didn’t want Sehun thinking he expected certain things from him, life goals or a career. It surprised him honestly, this transformation, though it wasn’t terribly hard to guess why the change had occurred. _Was occurring_ , he remedied. 

He mentioned everything to Chaelin _but_ the hybrid, Tao, who was even now wandering around the agency. She enjoyed hearing about the rest anyways.

“So he’s going in for cats’ rights, just like his dad, huh?”

“Possibly,” Yixing smirked. “He’s still a whole lot more interested in raising dogs though. Three poodles in our house now. _Three!_ ”

Chaelin laughed. “So, like his mother then?”

She had loved dogs too… How could Yixing forget? 

“Jaekyung did enjoy her animals.” Yixing sat up over the desk and drained the last of his coffee. “Now if Sehun starts sewing doggie hanbok for the poodles in all colors of the rainbow, then I’ll get worried. I promise.” He laughed.

Chaelin started to speak, but a knock on the door caused to her to pause. It was Bobby who pushed open the door, a bit hesitantly. “Ms. Lee?” 

“Yes, Bobby?”

“Uhm… can you come? There’s something of a problem with the kittens and… Tao?”

Yixing looked up abruptly. Chaelin, however, only sighed. “Is it life-threatening?”

“Probably not. It’s just that Changjo unleashed his pet tarantula and… Tao’s not taking it so well.” 

“We’ll be right there, Bobby. Thanks.” 

He closed the door, although neither of them made to move to get up immediately. 

“Sounds like your kitten is scared of bugs?” She inclined a curious eyebrow.

“Sounds like it.” Yixing tossed his cup and finally stood up, stretching as he did. “Might as well go save him. Did I mention Sehun—?

“Hey, you should bring Sehun here sometime.” Chaelin cut him off accidentally. 

“Hm?”

“Well since he’s gunning for a job like this. Well, not like this… But, if he’s really looking into working with hybrids or something, like you.”

Yixing smiled. “Maybe.” He held the door for her and Chaelin took the lead. A thought occurred to him. “You haven’t told me, but… what are you planning to do, after this closes? Not another agency, surely.”

“Oh, of course not. I’m done with this. I tried my best and well… I’m thinking about early retirement.”

“Certainly not. Retirement for someone like you? You're way too young – _and_ too lovely – to be retiring.”

She tittered humorously. “Oh, of course you’re right. No, not retirement so soon. I’ll find something to do though, never fear. You know, I would marry an old widower if he’d have me but…” she paused hopefully. 

Yixing paused in the hallway. “Chaelin, you’re a nice woman, as I’ve told you many times…” He smiled. This wasn’t the first time they’d played this game, if he could call it that. He wasn't even sure if it was a game. It might have been more.

She laughed. “Yixing, relax. _I_ know you’re set in your ways. I just like to try my hand every now and then.” Chaelin winked and they continued on their way until they reached the doors of the male dormitory. “Come on, let’s go save your kitten. Oh, what were you going to say about Sehun, earlier?”

 

 

When Jongdae had claimed they were off to war, Tao really thought it was just a figure of speech. Maybe the clashing and the yowls coming from inside the male dormitory should have been a tip-off, but Tao was nothing except naïve. Or just hopeful. He’d been an only cat after all, until very recently.

Tao quickly realized that living with above age and elderly cats had not prepared him for this. The kittens ranging in age from six to eleven were all over the place, raging throughout the three rooms they shared. Two of the rooms were for sleeping, each with wide open doors leading to the common area where at the very moment they entered an orange tabby with flying fluffy hair was pinning down a kitten half a head taller than itself. Bobby immediately rushed forward to rescue the abused cat while another long-haired kitten with auburn hair cackled on the side in merriment.

“Dan- _niel_!” Bobby cried. The orange kitten released its prey immediately. He pulled back guiltily but ultimately unrepentant as the brown short-hair crawled out of his way and sat upright, tail curled up into a protected position. He shot the other cat a menacing glare, which was systematically ignored.

“Hi, Bobby,” said Niel with a smile.

Bobby ignored him. Instead he turned back to the guests and ushered them inside. All the kittens took sudden notice and Bobby chuckled. “It’s because you’re cats. They’ve never seen cats your age before.” He began the introductions. “Alright, litter. Bet you’ve never seen papa cats like this before. This is Jongdae and Tao.” Tao furrowed his eyes and Jongdae smirked silently behind Bobby’s head. “And for our guests, I want to introduce you to…” Bobby paused and pointed dramatically. “Niel, he’s our troublemaker. Byungie over there.” The brown cat nursing its sore paw looked up scowling. “Changjo.” The long-haired kitten who looked to be a few years younger than others. “And… let’s see. We’re missing Minsoo and—“

“He’s sulking in his room because Byungie wouldn’t share his toys!” Changjo interrupted.

“Uhh, okay,” said Bobby slowly, trying to look serious. “Well I guess we can meet him later.”

Without further preamble Jongdae stepped forward and crouched down to where the three kittens sprawled on the center rug. A fourth kitten older than the rest immediately crawled out of a bean bag in the corner and joined the others. Tao noticed a bizarre sound trailing him, and then realized the blonde’s tail was currently wrapped up in a solid, white cast. It thumped like a dead weight along the floor.

“That’s Chanhee,” said Bobby. “He uh, had a bit of an accident with his tail.”

“You mean Minsoo broke his tail!” Niel piped in. Tao’s eyes widened in semi-horror. To Jongdae, however, it didn’t seem that news-worthy. He sat down and immediately started questioning Chanhee and the others about how their day was going and halfway into the very elaborate tale of Chanhee’s tail being bent in two, Jongdae was covered in kittens. Changjo even started playing with Jongdae’s own tail in a curious manner while Jongdae swished it and pretended he couldn’t feel a thing.

Tao hung back, suddenly overwhelmed. Jongdae had grown up in litters such as this. So had Baekhyun, Kyungsoo, Luhan, and probably Kai and Minseok as well. Broken tails were probably the least of their worries around here. It frightened Tao how much he didn’t know about kittens. His own childhood has gone by in a whir and he’d had parents and an owner to get him through it. He realized now that he had no idea how to interact with kittens such as these, and he was supposed to be the youngest in their home.

If either Jongdae or Bobby thought it odd how Tao froze up, neither mentioned it. The kittens on the floor took an instant liking to Jongdae, and all Tao could do was watch on in the background.

“Isn’t he a cat too?” one of them asked. “How come he’s just standing there?” Niel. That was one Niel, Tao remembered.

“He’s boring,” said another, Chunji.

Jongdae stared up at his housemate and winked. It was halfway reassuring, and then Jongdae quickly distracted the kittens. Bobby patted Tao’s shoulder and then excused himself to enter one of the bedrooms.

Tao remained standing awkwardly. He started to count when he realized there were only four in sight. The fifth was apparently sulking, but there were supposed to be six in this dormitory. Something pulled on his tail then, and Tao swerved around to see what was attacking him.

A black fluffy kitten huddled under a table in the corner, his face peering up at Tao curiously. Tao hadn’t seen him before because half the tablecloth was on the floor, and the broken lamp they’d heard shattering minutes before lay blocking the way. Tao could only guess the kitten had pulled the cloth until the lamp fell off, if the excited, proud look on his face was any give-away.

He crouched down, face level. “Hi,” Tao said experimentally. The kitten had yet to look away. His bright, open eyes and flat smile followed Tao’s every move. “What’s your name?”

The kitten remained silent, though not scared.

“I’m Tao. Nice to meet you.” 

The kitten sat on his knees, hands on either side on the ground. Tao forced himself to remain still while the kitten guided its weight forward ever so slowly until he was almost nose to nose with Tao. Then he pulled back and giggled, a trace of a pink tongue appearing through his teeth, smile as wide as ever.

“Do you have a name?” Tao asked again, this time as playfully as he could make himself sound. The kitten moved its mouth, a lisp of a sound coming out but Tao couldn’t make it out. “What was that?” He smiled, hoping to entice the cat to try again.

Instead the kitten purred, and only the second syllable came out. It sounded to Tao like ‘key’. 

Tao shifted and sat firmly on his bottom, feet crossed before his lap and he leaned forward so that their heads were on the same level. “One more time,” he said, leaning his sideways so that it mirrored the slant of the kitten’s.

“Rrrii-cky.”

“Ricky?” Tao confirmed. The kitten nodded brightly. “Nice to meet you, Ricky. How are are you?”

Ricky held up five fingers, then immediately amended it to six fingers.

“Six? Are you the baby?”

The kitten nodded happily.

“Me too,” Tao confided confidentially. Ricky looked like he couldn’t believe it. “In my house, there are six of us just like here, except all of them are older. Way older. And I’m the baby.”

Jongdae obliged him them by suddenly shouting across the room, “Hey, kitten! You found another one, huh?”

Tao and Ricky both looked over at him and Ricky smiled happily to see Tao’s story confirmed. Tao sighed; at least he’d made one friend this day.

The rest of the morning went by in a blur. Once Ricky decided that Tao was a cool cat, the others slowly warmed up to him, especially Byungie and Changjo. The other two remained firmly in Jongdae’s camp, and Tao never even saw the oldest cat called Minsoo. Bobby said he was sleeping, and didn’t want to play. They closed the door on his bedroom and together turned the rest of the living area into a mess.

The kittens insisted on showing every play toy they had to Jongdae, and Tao by extension. Within half an hour they’d played so hard that both Chanhee and Byungie had passed out, and Ricky lay drowsily across Tao’s lap. Tao played with the kitten’s ears while he stifled yawns of his own. He wasn’t used to this kind of thing anymore. Living with the older cats never seemed like this much work, even when he was given a pile of chores and housework to accomplish.

What shocked him even more was how ready Jongdae was for hard play. The twenty-two year old hybrid never seemed this lively when he was at home, but here he was wild and playful, and had all the energy in the world. Tao questioned him on it once.

“Yeah, life’s a little more drowsy at home, but that’s because everyone there’s just so… mellow... and old,” Jongdae replied. “Honestly, cats never really lose this spark completely. I only tone it down because it annoys the others. But if you get them excited about something, it can be just as crazy. Have you ever seen Luhan on caffeine and sugar together? He’s a wild child! Even now! Minseok has to seriously curb what that cat eats because it wears him out, and Luhan knows it too. Oh well, maybe you’ll see someday.”

Tao was young, and he had lots of energy too, but by the time Changjo popped up suddenly to run into his room, the room where Minsoo was hiding, Tao was so overwhelmed he needed a nap too. He suddenly envied Ricky and the kitten’s ability to pass out with his eyes open, not asleep, but definitely giving off a mood that said he was tired of social interaction.

If Tao had had his way, he would have done the same thing within minutes. Except that’s when Changjo emerged from the darkened bedroom and Tao’s world shattered.

“Hey, look at my tarantula!”

Later on, Tao would have to apologize immensely for tossing Ricky nearly two feet in the air when Changjo accidentally dropped the thing inches from Tao’s knee. It took ten minutes more, five kittens, Jongdae, Bobby, Chaelin and Yixing to persuade him to come down off the back of the couch. 

 

 

 

By the time they got home that afternoon, Tao was thoroughly miserable. He’d been traumatized and then tortured, none of the kittens would let him forget it, and then Jongdae related the story to Kai during the drive back, and Tao had never seen Kai look so elated. Devious, he was positively devious, and Tao no longer trusted him.

He forgot everything about Kai though once they pulled up in front of their house in Yixing’s car, and Sehun’s was already parked in the driveway. Yixing cleared his throat and Tao’s went awfully dry at the realization. 

“Whose car is that?” Kai just had to ask.

“My son’s, it looks like,” Yixing answered drily.

“Why is he…” Jongdae nudged him in the back and Kai shut up. 

Yixing didn’t bother turning off his engine. “Well, I will leave you three here today. Thank you again for coming with me and…” The others were quicker out of the car. Only Tao remained half in half out for a split second. “Tao, have a good evening.”

Tao reddened. “Goodnight. Sir,” he added for good measure.

They found Sehun sitting up very still on the couch with a posture that could be described as entirely too formal. Straight back, and knees together, hands neatly resting on his thighs and he didn’t look around until Tao actually walked passed his line of vision. 

He didn’t say anything; wasn’t sure what he was supposed to say. The last time he’d seen Sehun was two days ago when he dropped him off, and the only thing Sehun had suggested was that they hang out. He didn’t say date, Tao didn’t ask, and in fact Tao hadn’t even answered. He vaguely nodded his head because he was speechless, and then he halfway expected Sehun to forget it anyway. He didn’t expect to see Sehun already waiting at his house. 

“Hi.” 

Sehun looked up, and ignoring the other cats he repeated the greeting. “Oh, Hey.”

He seemed miserably embarrassed in the present company. Kai stared him down curiously, and Jongdae wore a slight grin. Tao took pity on him. “So, that thing you needed help with…” he bobbed his head, hoping Sehun would play along. 

“Uhh… yeah?”

“Well, if you can give me say… twenty minutes.”

“Huh?”

“Fifteen minutes,” Tao amended and then gulped.

Kai snorted. “I take it that means you want the bath first?” 

“Did it get fixed yet?” Jongdae asked just as Baekhyun skipped into the room from outside.

“It did! Chanyeol was over earlier. Oh, Sehun, you’re still here?”

“Yeah, why is he here?” Kai muttered. 

“Don’t talk like he isn’t in the room,” Baekhyun warned airily.

“Why not? He pretends like we’re not in the room.”

Tao really wanted to intervene, but fortunately Jongdae got there first. 

“Okay! Kai, come on.” Jongdae pulled him out of the room by the scruff of his collar, and Kai followed, ears deflating. Baekhyun chuckled happily. 

“I’ll just be right back,” said Tao apologetically, and he raced up the stairs. The only way to save Sehun was to hurry up and get themselves out of the house, but Tao absolutely couldn’t do that without a bath. He reeked from the day’s work. He smelled like kittens and sweat, was covered in at least six colors of fur, and to top it off he was still wearing a hastily scrubbed pant leg that had seen Ricky’s spit-up after the kitten wretched all over him after lunch. Tao had heard of human babies that sucked their thumb, but Ricky apparently sucked his tail, and then got hair balls. It wasn’t pretty, even if the kitten was cute. 

He stripped quickly in the bathroom and drew the bathwater. A minute later he sunk into the tub and sighed with relief. There was no time to really enjoy it, not with Sehun waiting downstairs and who knows how many hybrids waiting to interrogate him. Maybe if Tao just took a few minutes to unwind though, and then scrubbed himself extra quickly? 

Five minutes passed and he still hadn’t reached for the soap. Five minutes before Tao started to consider how it was probably inappropriate to be thinking about Sehun while he sat naked in the tub. Unbidden to him came the images of their last outing; Sehun hovering over him by the side of the car, how he’d moved forward without thinking, how Tao had leaned forward, thinking. Of their kiss and the sensation of Sehun’s lips kissing back. 

Tao rushed the rest of his bath and ran some extra cold water to rinse off. His hair needed no work other than a quick gel massage. His tail was still a little damp, but as long as he could get it accurately through his nicest pair of jeans (one of the last pairs he’d gotten tailored before having to move), it was all fine. 

He dashed through the hallway shirtless to his room, having forgotten to bring a shirt into the bathroom. Jongdae lay on his bed reading a book. 

“Wow, that was quick. My turn?”

“Sure. Uhm. Wait!” 

“Yes?” Jongdae hadn’t even gotten off his bed yet. Tao paused before their shared closet and wondered if he should ask. “What is it?” Jongdae asked.

“Help.” That was all Tao could say.

“Help with what?”

“A shirt. I need a shirt. What do I wear?”

To his relief, Jongdae doesn’t judge. He does pick out one of the simplest things in Tao’s wardrobe though — a white button down — and then instructs Tao to leave the top few buttons undone. 

“Good to go. Have fun. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t — oh wait, what wouldn’t I do for a date right now. Anyways! Have a good night.”

Tao spoke to himself all the way down the stairs. _It’s not a date. It’s just hanging out._ It’s not a date. He didn’t even know what they were going to do? What if they were just going to watch another movie in the living room, in which case Tao could have just put on a nicer pair of pajamas…

Sehun sat just as stiffly as when Tao had left, pointedly ignoring Luhan. The elder cat leaned against the door frame of the kitchen with his arms crossed, staring curiously at Sehun without speaking. He did speak to Tao, however.

“Oh. Evening, Tao.”

“Evening.”

“Going out?”

Tao hummed to fill up the space since Sehun didn’t respond. 

“Have you eaten something? I’m warming up something for me and Minseok. If you like I can get you something too.”

While Tao wavered, Sehun finally stood up. “We’re going out, thank you.”

Luhan smiled weakly as Sehun turned away. For a moment, Tao imagined he got a chill watching the two but then Luhan shrugged and disappeared into the kitchen, and Sehun caught Tao’s gaze. Immediately he softened, and Tao saw something of the same boy who’d kissed him days ago, the same scared, confused look that so quickly morphed into _want_. 

So much about Sehun remained an enigma: his stony personality, his chill manner, both dueling with a boyish naivety that mirrored Tao's own. Tao had no idea what made him tick, and no idea what either of them were doing.

“Ready to go?”

“Yes. Where are we going?”

“Honestly, I don’t know yet.” Sehun smiled sheepishly.

And Tao decided he just wanted to follow him and see.


	3. Chapter 3

{A Scratch For Your Heart}

It had taken Kyungsoo all Friday and Saturday, and half of Sunday to get up the nerve to knock on Joonmyun's door. He knocked once, and then pressed the bell and waited, nervously double-checking that yes, that was indeed the Joonmyun's car in the driveway, as if he didn't know what it looked like already.

Joonmyun was prompt. The door swung open and wide-eyed he stared at his guest, unprepared for the visit.

Kyungsoo smiled feebly. “Hi.”

Joonmyun softened almost immediately. “Kyungsoo... Hi. Do you want to come in?”

“Yes, please.”

His house was a little smaller than the cats' home with one floor instead of two, and the layout of the ground floor was nearly the same except in reverse. Joonmyun lead him inside and motioned for him to sit on the couch. Kyungsoo stood by the couch, and his host, following Kyungsoo's lead, did the same.

Kyungsoo wrung his fingers and stared down at the carpet. This was definitely the last thing he wanted to be doing right now, confronting the man he'd apparently said some awful things to the night he got drunk. They hadn't seen each other since then. Joonmyun came by only once on Friday, but Kyungsoo had happened to be in his bedroom at that time. He sent Jongdae down to say he wasn't feeling well, and only emerged once he figured the man was gone.

Sadly though, this tactic wouldn't last him for very long. He was bound to run into Joonmyun sooner rather than later, and Sunday afternoon after the fifth mention by Baekhyun that he should probably go and see him, Kyungsoo caved. Unwillingly.

“I came to apologize.”

Joonmyun made no remark. Instead, his eyebrows came up, but his mouth remained still and he sat down on the couch, once again inviting Kyungsoo to sit as well. Finally, Kyungsoo took the bait.

Joonmyun sighed. “I didn't know you needed to apologize for anything,” he started to say.

“I was drunk. I said some mean things. I'm sorry.” Kyungsoo rushed the phrases. 

“Hmph,” Joonmyun sniffed lightly, humorously. “As far as I remember, you only implied I was getting ugly, but-”

“I didn't mean that.” 

“So, you don't think I'm ugly...” Joonmyun teased.

“I... I mean...” Kyungsoo stammered.

“It's okay. I get what you mean.” Joonmyun clapped his hands soudly on his thighs, implying they needn't continue talking about this. For that, Kyungsoo had to be grateful, but if this conversation was over then he had no other reason to be over here.

“Well, that's all I came to say, so I guess I should be going.” He made to stand up.

“Kyungsoo, wait.” 

Kyungsoo plopped back down, his knees collapsing back into the sofa, eyes not meeting Joonmyun's. He waited for a follow-up statement, something to make him uncomfortable, whatever words he'd always known Joonmyun's probably had but never said. Their history together went back too long, but also not long enough. It was much too formal, considering how they met. Too professional, but that's how Kyungsoo liked it. Give him any other options and Kyungsoo wouldn't know what to do.

He waited, as instructed, but Joonmyun didn't speak. Silence sat heavily over the room as both of them pondered, but as the seconds ticked by Kyungsoo became aware of a creature slinking its way into the living room. A cat, an actual normal-sized cat pattered up to Kyungsoo, as if recognizing a fellow and mewled at his feet. Kyungsoo's ears immediately softened to see the creature. He sat forward to pet it, and the cat, a gray tabby jumped up into his lap. Joonmyun looked shocked, but mostly at the intrusion. 

Kyungsoo chuckled and side-eyed him bemusedly. 

“What?” he asked, and Kyungsoo chuckled again before hardening his tone matter-of-factly. 

“You... I guess I was right about you. You really are a cat person.” His smile was fake, and Joonmyun knew it.

The older man cleared his throat, attempted to clear the awkwardness, and only succeeded in making it worse. “Guess you already knew a lot about me... I like cats.”

“Just these cats, or hybrid-cats?” Kyungsoo dared to ask.

“Both,” Joonmyun clarified after a moment.

Kyungsoo pet the cat, which had found his tail and he took a few minutes to play with it, enjoying the simplicity that comes from interacting with a being with a million less problems than himself. The problem with hybrids, he always assumed, is that they want to act like cats and sit around and enjoy the good life, but they're cursed with a human brain and so they can think and worry about life and that sucked.

Joonmyun watched him play. The distraction was welcoming for both, although nothing was being accomplished. 

Finally, without looking up, Kyungsoo asked him, “If you like them so much then how come you've never adopted? So many hybrids and they all need a home, and half the time they end up in shit places, or even on the street. You've got a perfectly good house any would love to live in...” Joonmyun didn't interrupt him, so he went on. “You already work with hybrids so you know what they're like and what to expect. And you know most don't need that much daily attention, so if you didn't have that much time to spend with them, they'd still be fine just living in a house...”

Kyungsoo could definitely go on. He had a whole long rant pent up inside him, and now he had the perfect audience. He took a breath, ready to continue, except this time he was stopped. 

“But that's the problem,” Joonmyun said lightly. Kyungsoo looked at him. “I don't want to own one. I... don't want to be the kind of person who owns another person...”

Another person. Not a cat, not a hybrid. A person... A person like Kyungsoo? he wanted to ask. He couldn't make his voice work though. All sound was trapped in the back of his throat. ”What's wrong with owning someone?” he finally managed to squeak out.

Joonmyun sighed, and Kyungsoo knew he shouldn't have asked. He already knew, probably, what his answer was. And he was right.

“I'd rather... someone lived with me because they want to, not because they have to...” He spoke softly. Kyungsoo's heart almost went out to him.

“Does that go for anyone?”

“Anyone,” Joonmyun confirmed, even softer.

The cat jumped off his lap. Kyungsoo was left holding his own fluffy tail and that wasn't nearly enough distraction as he needed. “I see...” He didn't want to meet Joonmyun's glance. He could barely even look at him at all. “I should go now. Anyways, thanks for accepting my apology. See... see you around.” 

He left as quickly as he could and marched back home. The others had come home already, Sehun was sitting on the couch and Tao was apparently upstairs having a cat bath, and Kyungsoo couldn't be bothered to spare the two a separate thought. That would make him start thinking again, and he didn't want to think. Curse the human part of his brain that was working on overdrive. 

 

 

“So… where are we going?”

They’d been in the car for all of five minutes, Sehun not speaking more than a few words here and there. Tao had waited as patiently as he could, and when Sehun gulped and looked over at him, Tao had the distinct feeling that he’d nearly been forgotten, even though he sat in the passenger seat. That or Sehun just had a severe need to concentrate while driving that caused him to put Tao in second priority.

“Oh… uh. Movie,” Sehun said, eyes darting frantically sideways and back to the road. “If that’s okay with you?” he added.

Tao relaxed a little and smiled. A movie sounded a whole lot like a date, or at least a whole lot like the kinds of dates he read about in some of the novels Jongdae kept in a box under his bed.

“Movie is fine. I’ve been to one once,” said Tao.

“Only once?” Sehun looked shock.

“Yes… a long time ago. My master and my parents took me once when I really little. Don’t even remember the movie now but… I think it was fun.”

“You think?” Sehun said slowly. He seemed only capable of repeating words. 

“Yes?”

“How come you only went that once then?”

Tao stared at his hands in lap, folded gracefully with his tail between them. “I don’t think my parents liked it. Going out, I mean. People… gawked? At them. At me.”

Sehun said nothing then, and the silence grew. Tao didn’t know how to follow that up without two-way effort, and it wasn’t like he really knew how to elaborate on it. His parents hadn’t much liked going out into the world more than they had to, and it got worse the older they got. They were homebodies, kind of like Luhan and Minseok, now that Tao thought about it. Tao had just always assumed that’s what hybrids did: stayed at home and by themselves. He never imagined he’d be out one evening on a date — because this definitely seemed like a date — and with a human at that. When Sehun actually talked to him, at least.

He folded his ear against the glass of the window and peered out at the darkening skyline, still amazed at every little thing he never got to see. 

“Do you think cats will ever be able to drive? One day?” was the only thing he asked for the remainder of the trip.

“Maybe,” Sehun responded quietly.

Still staring out the window, Tao hummed to himself and let his tail flicker easily to the left of his body. Once he felt it come down near Sehun’s thigh and he felt the other tense slightly, and he moved it closer to himself after that.

 

 

The theater wasn’t very crowded for a Sunday night. 

“Is it always like this or…?” Tao asked, while they stood in line at the concession stand. They’d purchased tickets for an action movie, but neither he nor Sehun had eaten food yet, and Sehun was steadily grumbling to himself about the price of a hot dog. 

He stopped now though. “Hm? Oh, yeah… usually.”

Tao smirked, determined to be a tease since Sehun wasn’t much in the mood for talking. “So, we’re here because a lot of people aren’t, and you don’t want to be seen with a hybrid?” 

Sehun looked panicked. “What? No, that’s not what I —” He quit at the sound of Tao laughing, and then continued to pout. 

“Just messing with you,” Tao confirmed airily. “It’s not a date, we’re just here to see a movie. Still, you could say a few words every now and then.” He tried to be as nonchalant as he could. Hopefully this would actually confirm what this evening was.

“What —? Oh…” Sehun said.

Tao turned around in line on the pretense of reading different billboards, and exhaled slowly.

It wasn’t until a minute later when Sehun purchased the food for both of them, that Tao thanked him and Sehun looked guilty. It should have been Tao who felt guilty though. He hadn’t offered to pay, either for the tickets or for the food, and the simple enough reason was that he hadn’t any money, and Sehun evidently knew that. 

As they started to wind their way through the slight crowd, Tao held his breath and Sehun finally said, “What makes you think this isn’t a date?”

There was just a faint hint of hopefulness in his voice, but that was enough to cause Tao to beam. He shined the light of his smile onto Sehun, and that was the only reply Sehun was going to get.

It was enough to make almost the rest of their evening pass peaceably. 

The first hitch happened as they sat down in the still-lit theater and a little girl there with her parents turned around and visibly stared Tao down, astonishment etched across her face.

“Mommy, mommy. It’s a cat. It’s a giant cat!” she whispered in a loud voice.

The mother turned around quickly to verify, and Tao looked away hurriedly. “It’s a hybrid-cat, sweetie. Remember me talking about those once? Just ignore it.”

The little girl gasped in awe. “But what’s it doing outside?”

“Hybrids go out from time to time with their owners. Just let them be, okay?”

Tao didn’t look up from the cardboard box containing his food until he felt a hand squeeze gently across his forearm. Sehun didn’t look at him directly, but the hand was enough. The little girl continued to peer at them between the seats, however, this time Tao dared to raise his head and stare about the room curiously. He wished though that he had a hat. 

“Are you done?” Sehun asked him when their meals were finished. He fetched the boxes and slid them under their seats. “Movie should start soon.”

Tao nodded. He was still giving the girl and her parents a wide berth.

“Relax,” Sehun added a second later. He touched Tao’s arm again, which did nothing to relax him.

“Easy for you to say. You might be a little more talkative, you know.”

Sehun smiled uncertainly, and then looked embarrassed. “I’m sorry. I’m… not very good at these things.”

“What, dates? I’ve noticed.”

“Yeah… I’m sorry.”

Tao chuckled. “You said that already.”

“I know.. I’m—”

“Shh, you don’t have to say it again.” The lights began to dim, and Tao started to whisper. “Although seriously, this isn’t that much different from being at home. All these social creatures, and all they ever do is sleep!” 

“So you admit you’re a social creature?” Sehun whispered back.

“Well, yeah. When I don’t feel like a nap.” Tao winked at him in the near darkness, certain he could still see it. It enticed the first real smile out of Sehun all night. 

Halfway into the previews they were relaxed enough to make fun of the movies. At the start of the movie they nudged each other and cringed when a man’s text tone kept going off. By the middle of the movie a man sneezed violently behind them causing Tao to jump. He whispered something snarky about it being “cat hair” and instead of getting upset, Sehun and Tao smiled obnoxiously at each other like it had been a grand plot to annoy their fellow movie-goers. 

Tao liked the movie well enough, but by the last quarter he was starting to get sleepy. He had spent nearly all day playing with kittens after all, and had had little time to rest. Sehun nudged him in the ribs with his elbow when his head swayed once. 

“Hey. Don’t you dare fall asleep on me,” he whispered harshly. 

“What will you do if I do?” Tao whispered back, just as unpleasantly. 

“I’ll leave you here when the credits roll.”

Tao sniffed haughtily, and the man behind them kicked lightly on the back of their seats to get them to shut up.

He made it through to the end of the movie, but just barely. He rubbed his eyes thoroughly when the lights came on, having already adjusted well enough (and better than most) to the darkened room. 

“Something the matter?” Sehun asked.

“No. Just… it got bright.”

“Yes, that’s what happens at the end of a movie.” Sehun dared to chuckle, and pulled one of Tao’s hands away from his eyes. “Oh woah.”

“What is it?” Tao blinked at him.

“Nothing… Well, your eyes. They’re very…”

Tao blinked again, and swore he saw Sehun blush. “Cat-like?”

“I wasn’t going to say that,” Sehun said quickly. “I just meant, they were very… glassy, or something.”

“Glassy? So, you mean like a cat.”

“I didn’t,” Sehun whined. He started to push Tao out of the aisle and down the stairs to exit. “Okay, fine. A little bit.”

Tao laughed, but then he realized that Sehun’s hand was still resting gently along his wrist. He pulled it away sharply out of confusion and Sehun actually hissed. 

“Oooww!”

“What? What did I do?” Tao cried immediately.

“Your nails! When did you last cut them?” He held up his hand where Tao had accidentally grazed the skin in his hurry. An inch-long red mark appeared across the inside of his palm, not deep enough that it drew blood but sharp enough to sting.

Tao cringed. “I’m sorry! I… forgot to cut them this morning. It’s just that my nails grow out faster and kind of sharper than humans if I don’t trim them every day.” He pouted and tried to grab onto Sehun’s hand to see the damage up close. 

Sehun just pulled it back and scowled. “I know, I know. It just hurts. It’ll be fine in a second, I’m sure.”

“I’m sorry,” Tao repeated sadly.

Sehun patted him on the shoulder with his good hand as they exited with the small crowd. Once out of the theater though, he took the lead and Tao had no choice but to follow just behind him. He turned his fingers around and glared at them, as if they were responsible for spoiling his night.

They climbed into their respective sides of the car in silence and sat there for a moment. Sehun delayed turning on the engine. 

“Do you want to go somewhere else?” Sehun finally asked.

“I don’t know. Did you have somewhere in mind?”

“Not really.” Sehun grinned coldly. 

“Oh.”

Sehun turned on the engine anyways. “To be honest, I’m not all that creative, so that’s why I came up with a movie at the last minute. I don’t know what else to do, and we kind of already ate so… I guess we could probably find something else to do.”

As he spoke though, he turned his palm over in his lap and Tao could see the reddish mark becoming even more defined on his hand. He felt super guilty about it.

“Maybe you should just go home and clean it? It looks kind of awful,” Tao said glumly.

“Yeah,” Sehun agreed noncommittally. 

They began the drive back just like the drive there: in near silence, and this time Tao dozed even though it couldn’t have been longer than a fifteen minute drive. He batted his eyes when he felt the car slow down as they reached their neighborhood, and then sat up abruptly when Sehun missed the turn to the shelter home. Instead, he turned down a street that Tao recognized as Sehun’s street.

“Where are we going?” He asked, even though he didn’t need to.

“Uhm…” Sehun winced. “I thought maybe we could just hang out at home since… we didn’t do much. If that’s alright with you,” he added quickly.

“S-sure.” They pulled up in front of the house. “Will your dad be okay with this?”

“Yeah, he’d be cool with it. And anyways, it’s ten o’clock, and he’s old so he’ll probably be asleep already.”

Tao refrained from mentioning that usually by this time he’s falling asleep too, or at least fighting with Jongdae over who gets the better mattress. Private property and bed assignments became a fluid, always in flux thing around nighttime, and half the time they ended up piling onto the same one. 

He stifled a yawn, determined not to be sleepy.

Sehun unlocked the door, and together they tip-toed through the mostly dark house. About halfway through they were met with the swift shuffling of puppies’ paws. Sehun immediately dropped to his knees to meet them.

“Hey, puppies,” he cooed softly. “What are you doing in the house still? Did dad forget to put you outside?” 

As always, one of them ran up to Tao and he also crouched down to play with it. “This one always loves me,” he said. “I don’t even know his name.”

“What? That one? That’s Candy. He likes cats, apparently.” Sehun smirked and stood up.

A door opened at the end of the hallway, and unfortunately it was Yixing, still not asleep. Tao stood up quickly too, and bristled uncomfortably as the older man padded down the hall in his bathrobe. 

“Sehun? Tao? Ahh, good evening. I was just coming to let the dogs outside. Shall I lead them out?” Sehun nodded to his father and Yixing passed them with a smile and not a single word about what Tao was doing there. They waited for a moment as the dogs ran after him, and then Sehun lead the way to another door down the hall. 

“My room,” he sighed and clicked on a light. “Make yourself at home.”

“Thanks. I will,” said Tao, as he continued to stand in the middle of the room and stare around him.

Sehun snorted. “I mean, you can sit down or something.”

“Where?” There was literally no place to sit except for Sehun’s half-made bed. He eyes lingered on it, and Sehun followed his gaze.

“There,” he said, indicating the bed, “is fine. Sorry for the mess.”

Tao sat and scooted backwards until his back was flush with the wall. He bounced a bit too just for fun. “Aww, this is a good mattress.”

“Oh yeah? Why, does yours suck or something?”

“Well it’s not bad…”

“How many cats do you share with anyways?”

“Just three,” Tao replied. 

Sehun grunted to himself, and then began clearing away a chair Tao hadn’t even noticed before. A pile of clothes and books and notebooks were dumped onto the floor and Sehun pulled it out a few more inches, turned it around, and sat backwards on it. He folded his elbows over the back of the chair and rested his chin. As his hand hit the wood, however, he scowled and stood up again. 

“I forgot… Give me a sec. I’m going to clean this.” He left the room and Tao was sad again. With nothing else to do but wait, he pulled up a pillow, noting that it smelled vaguely like Sehun, and propped up his legs. It was probably a bad idea to sit here when he was so tired. He was almost afraid he'd pass out by the time Sehun came back, but he opened his eyes quickly when the door opened. Sehun reentered and sat once more backwards on the chair.

“All better?” Tao asked. 

Sehun held up his hand which sported a band-aid, and he smiled. “Yep.”

“Good.”

He noticed Sehun observing him, and Tao shifted a little at the attention. 

“You look like you’re about to fall asleep again,” Sehun noted.

For that suggestion alone, Tao yawned. “Honestly, I usually go to sleep around this time.”

Sehun grinned. Tao could see his semi-hidden smirk.

“What?” he demanded.

“Nothing,” said Sehun. 

“Yeah, right.” Tao’s eyes felt heavy and he closed them, only to force them open a second later. 

“Do you miss your own room? Did you have your own room before?”

“I did, but no I don’t miss it really.” He pulled up another pillow, standing it up next to him so that his head had something to lean on.

“Isn’t it weird though to go from being by yourself to sharing?”

“No. I like it actually.”

“You do?”

“Yeah. I like being with other cats. Or just, other people. I was kind of lonely before, and it’s always more fun with others anyways.”

Sehun rested his chin again on the back of the chair, eyes fluttering too as he continued to watch Tao getting comfortable on his bed. “I see… even when you sleep though?” he asked softly.

“Yes, why? Are you jealous?” Tao smiled lazily. 

“No.” It wasn’t terribly convincing, although Sehun did seem like he was amused. He changed the subject, almost. “What’ll happen if you don’t go home tonight?”

Tao shrugged. He didn’t really want to talk anymore. He just wanted to sleep and since Sehun wasn’t stopping him from getting more and more settled, he let himself relax. He started with a slight tip as his body weight slumped over. Sehun continued to smile to himself. 

“What are you smiling at?” Tao asked, even though his tongue felt heavy.

“Nothing.”

“You say that a lot…”

“Sorry.” And still he smiled as he stood up, crossing the room in just a couple steps. “Sleep, then.” He helped adjust the pillow so that it lay flat and Tao immediately hummed in satisfaction. He stretched out his legs even though he was lying backwards on the bed, and he heard Sehun chuckle before he walked away. The light went out and Sehun left the room. He couldn’t keep track of time after that but sometime later the door opened again and someone — Sehun — sat down on the bed. The mattress shifted at his weight, and a hand grazed across his head and landed on his ear. 

“Do you purr in your sleep too?” he heard him say softly. “I bet you do…” He rubbed his ear then, and Tao in his nearly sleep-induced state obliged him.

 

{Take It Slow and Sleep}

 

 

Only a cat would give up a perfectly warm and cozy spot the moment he woke up, confused and petrified. Tao didn't remember falling asleep. It's not something he typically does, remembering things like that. He just sleeps because that's what his body tells him to do, whether he is at home safe and sound, or snug as a bug in a stranger's bed.

So Sehun wasn't a stranger, but Tao definitely didn't have any right to be sleeping over, which is why he instantly slunk out of the bed, crawling across Sehun's legs – the boy had fallen asleep sitting up with a pillow cushioning his head between the headboard and wall – and ran home as fast as he could, consequences be damned.

“Oh hey, look who's back!” Baekhyun chirped, too happy for six in the morning. “I guess your date went—” He didn't get to say anymore because Tao flew right past him, desperate to find his own bed and a Jongdae to confess too.

“Jongdaeee,” Tao whined the moment he snuck into their room. He checked vaguely to see if Kyungsoo was there, and upon seeing the sleeping black cat, instantly started whispering. “Jongdaee,” he whined quietly, rocking the sleeping cat awake with insistent hands. 

“Hmmm?” Jongdae moaned and rolled over, habitually making room for the kitten to climb in. Tao did just that. “What is it? Did you just get back?”

“Yess,” Tao cried. His senses were extremely sensitive, as were his emotions.

“What's the matter?” asked Jongdae, still not fully alert. “Wait, you just got back? Where did you sleep?”

“I slept with Sehun,” Tao confessed, brokenly.

Jongdae's eyes roared to life. “What? You did?!”

“Shhhhhh,” Tao warned. He knew he was acting pathetically but he really didn't want to wake up Kyungsoo yet and hear what the bristly cat had to say about this yet. “Kyungsoo's still asleep. I just got home. I don't know remembered what happened. We went to a movie and then we went back to his house, and then I got sleepy and I fell asleep and when I woke up I was in his bed, and he was sitting up on the other end of the bed, also asleep, and then I panicked and came home.”

Jongdae listened to his whole story, and then subtly looked him over, sniffing at scents lightly. Tao burrowed into his chest and let an arm wrap around him. He expected a scolding, words of stern advice, perhaps even anger. He didn't expect Jongdae to laugh, but that's exactly what the older cat did. Tao felt the rumblings before they had even developed fully as Jongdae smirked and chuckled and firmly hugged Tao to his side.

“What is it? Why are you laughing?”

Jongdae just sighed, and then he said, “Tao, kitten, we really need to work on your vocabulary. I thought you meant you slept with him!”

“But I did. I feel asleep and... I'm sorry, don't be angry!” he whispered pitifully.

“But you didn't actually... you don't smell like... oh never mind. Guess we can save that conversation for another day. Glad you had a good night's rest.”

“You're not upset?” Tao asked him.

“No? What's wrong with sleeping in someone else's bed? You do it all the time anyways. How many nights do you actually sleep in your own bed? Mostly you're in mine, or Kyungsoo's, or Baekhyun's, or Luhan and Minseok's...”

Tao sniffed, still coming to terms with the fact that he wasn't actually in trouble. “But this wasn't even at our house.”

“Just another location,” Jongdae told him. Then he got another idea that seemed to occupy his thoughts more. “Hey, was Sehun awake when you left this morning?” 

“No? Why?”

“Oh.” Jongdae didn't elaborate for a few minutes. “Well maybe you should call him later and explain because... humans probably aren't as used to your sleeping habits as you'd think they should be, and uhm... Sehun is probably confused right now. Or will be when he wakes up.”

Tao held that thought and considered it for a few more minutes. He hadn't thought the whole running away thing through well enough. But it wasn't like Jongdae had implied. There was something about the the idea of having slept in Sehun's bed that was a tiny bit more thrilling than all of his other conquests so far (everyone in the house except for Kai, but then Kai shared a blanket with no one). He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but something about the fact that Sehun had taken him on a date first, and seemed to kind of like him - and he meant, like him in a way that was different from how Tao's hybrid roommates liked him - that made Tao feel a whole lot fuzzier than he had any right to feel. Sehun liked him, and let him sleep on his bed, and apparently humans didn't do that as often as hybrids? Food for thought, but on that thought Tao's stomach grumbled. 

“Hungry already?” Jongdae asked. 

“Yes. Who's cooking today?” Tao didn't really want to get out of bed just yet. Jongdae was really cozy and comfortable, especially while Tao was in an excitable state. Who was cooking though was really an important question, because not for everybody would Tao leave the safety of his personal cat blanket. 

“Minseok, I think,” Jongdae answered.

“Oh.” Tao immediately sat up. “Okay, then, I'll go see what he's cooking.” 

He tried to sit up, but Jongdae wouldn't release him so easily. “Hey, wait, Tao.”

“Yes?”

“Tell me something. Do you... like Sehun?” It was an earnest question. “I just want to know because... with humans things can become kind of complicated. I don't want you to have to freak out later on, if something ever changes between you.”

“What could cha–” Tao hesitated. What could change between them that wasn't already changing? He thought for a moment about the few cat-human relationships that supposedly went beyond the level of owner and pet; he thought about that picture in Professor Kwon's office of the man and his apparently cat friend... special friend? He thought of Luhan and Minseok, who didn't even bother trying to pretend they weren't something much, much more than longtime friends and roommates. “I do. I mean, I think so. I just don't know what to do about that,” Tao answered honestly. “What... what do hybrids do when they like a person?” That wasn't a topic anybody had ever shared with him before. 

Jongdae smiled. “I think... I think maybe you should go and talk with Minseok today. Privately. Tell him what you told me.”

“Okay...?”

“Do it. It'll be good for you.”

“I will then. Wait, what do I do about Sehun now though? You said he'd probably be confused when he wakes up. Should I run back? Or call him? Wait, I don't have his number. Jongdae, what do I do?” Tao worried himself into a fuss. Even Kyungsoo was beginning to wake up now, and Tao's stomach was still rumbling.

“Worry about it later. Eat first,” Jongdae advised with a little laugh, and then positively shoved him out of his bed. “And let me sleep a few minutes longer, hm?”

 

 

Minseok was having a bit of a stressful day. For starters, he had to cook breakfast, and while that in itself wasn't bad, it was a bit harder with Luhan hanging on to him at every other movement. Nothing he couldn't get used to though. He'd had six years to get used to a clingy Luhan. From the moment the cat had entered the house he'd been this way, singling Minseok out as the object of his affections, and while Minseok had resisted for approximately one month, he'd slowly given in. He'd needed Luhan then about as badly as Luhan needed someone to belong to, he just didn't know it right away. 

“What can I do? Can I help? Let me do that. Here let me handle that. Can you stop while I hug you for a second? Wait, don't lift that pan. It's heavy. I'll do it for you.” Luhan's persistence knew no bounds. 

“Luhan, please. I'm just old. I'm not dying. I can still do a few things around here, okay?” Minseok begged him to quit. 

“B-but...”

“Sit. down.”

Luhan obeyed, pitifully perching on a kitchen stool to watch him work, hands tucked between his knees and his tail around his ankle. Minseok let him sit there for a few minutes before taking a break and waiting for his breakfast casserole to cook. He wouldn't admit it aloud, but Luhan was at his most adorable when he thought Minseok was angry at him. Flattened ears and concerned frown. Minseok probably played it up more than he needed to, but he was comforted in the fact that nobody loved him as much as Luhan did, or would ever. He'd lucked out, having received a second chance at life. 

The timer on the oven read another twenty minutes before he needed to pay it any attention. Just long enough for an early morning cuddle on the porch, and Minseok was about to suggest it, had his chin already digging into the ticklish part of Luhan's neck, the cat already starting to squeal playfully, when Tao strode through the kitchen. 

Tao drew up straight and halted when he realized he'd caught the eldest cats in a semi-intimate position. “U-h-hh... morning?” he said, overly bright.

Minseok stood up as well, all ready to give the kitten his undivided attention, since that's what it seemed Tao had come in for. That or breakfast, but knowing Tao's nervous energy and judging by the way he was bouncing on the balls of his feet, it was probably both. 

“Morning, Tao. Food will be ready in about twenty minutes, if you aren't starving.”

Tao's stomach rumbled right on time, but the kitten only rubbed his belly distractedly before approaching the elders. 

“Something you want?” Minseok asked.

“Y-yes...” Tao said indecisively. He took a moment to think about it, then repeated it more firmly. “Yes, actually. I just, don't know exactly what I'm supposed to ask you. Jongdae said I should... I should...” Tao looked between him and Luhan, and back at Minseok again, already wavering. “Uhm, after breakfast. Can I ask you something?”

“Sure,” Minseok agreed. Luhan frowned and sighed.

“But I wanted naptime,” Luhan whispered, tugging on Minseok's arm. 

While Tao investigated the oven, Minseok took the opportunity to press a kiss to the side of Luhan's face and nip at his ear playfully. “Shhh, it can wait, I'm sure.” If Minseok trusted his instincts - and he did - it probably had something to do with Sehun. Tao was on a strange path with the human boy, one that could easily lead to disaster if handled wrongly. Minseok should know. Aside from Kai and Baekhyun, he was the one who knew most about humans, had spent more time interacting with them, and he knew how they could be. He also happened to be the only hybrid in the house who knew things about Sehun, things about Yixing. 

The promised talk didn't happen exactly on schedule, for which Kai could be blamed. Minseok and Luhan both had to pull a confused and scared kitten away from the glare of the white-haired hybrid. Kai hadn't taken well to the idea of Tao staying out all night with Sehun, although he wouldn't say why. Minseok decided it was in everyone's best interest to pull Tao out of the line of far before Kai could say something mean, and also before Kai broke down himself. He trusted Jongdae and Baekhyun to get Kai out the door and off to work safe and sound. 

It was going to be a long day indeed.

 

 

“Minseok, what do hybrids do when they like a person?” Tao decided to repeat the same question he'd asked Jongdae earlier, hoping this time to gain an answer. 

He hadn't quite managed to separate Luhan from Minseok, but the three of them at least had some privacy in the elders' bedroom and after the strange debacle with Kai a few hours ago, Tao was even more uncertain what to think. He was pretty sure it didn't have anything to do with jealousy, but then one never knew what went on inside Kai's head. No one talked about Kai. No one talked about Minseok either though, and Tao's curiosity was starting to get the better of him. He held it in, knowing better than to ask such an impertinent question. 

Minseok breathed lightly, his eyes closed, but he wasn't completely asleep anymore. Luhan had insisted he rest after breakfast, and no one fought him on the subject, least of all Tao. 

“Normally, in a regular situation,” the eldest whispered sleepily, “a hybrid wouldn't do anything.”

“What do you mean?” Tao asked him.

Minseok's eyes fluttered open lazily. “I mean, it's not typically a cat's place to make such decisions. Liking somebody and being owned by somebody are two very different things.” 

For a moment, Tao's heart kind of hurt. 

“But that's, as I say, in normal situations,” Minseok continued softly. “And you aren't normal. Neither is Sehun.”

Tao didn't need to ask him to elaborate about why he personally wasn't considered normal. Tao knew the basics already about agency cats, and he knew that life in the shelter was a completely different thing. They were independent. They could do what they wanted, within reason, or if it was fiscally possible, although that last reason cut back on a lot of their options anyways. None of the hybrids could forget for more than a moment that they weren't almost completely dependent on Yixing's hands-off generosity.

“What do you mean about Sehun?” Tao asked him instead.

Minseok closed his eyes again and stretched on his blanket, rounding his back a little further into the circle that was Luhan dozing behind him. Tao had slept on his stomach while the elders napped, completely ignorant of Luhan's barely concealed irritation that his and Minseok's privacy was being imposed upon. 

“Not my story to tell.” Minseok yawned, and Tao frowned. Even Luhan shifted awake and peered through half-open lids at Minseok's sleepy facade, as if he too was curious what kind of story Minseok wasn't disposed to tell.

“But then what do I do?” Tao asked, bewildered.

Minseok didn't answer; neither did Luhan, although he was looking at Tao a little pitifully, and Tao couldn't handle it. He moved to get up, thinking Minseok was just going back to sleep, but then a hand casually stroked him around the neck. Minseok was holding him in place. 

“Do what you want to do,” said the eldest. “It's Sehun. He's difficult, hard to handle, rude, and occasionally very stupid. And if he was any other human, I'd tell you to avoid him completely. I think I did tell you that too when you first met.” Tao didn't need to be reminded about that first time, when Sehun had made him cry. Minseok went on, eyes still closed, but his hand pawed gently, comfortingly on nape of Tao's neck, and when he spoke it was in a very slow speech, methodical, but thoughtful. “He seems to like you though. It's a nice side of him. Something I never expected to see, and I know for a fact that he won't be the kind of person to adopt a hybrid. Which means... he just plain likes you.”

“So... that's a good thing?” Tao asked.

“It is... but, it's also a hard thing. More than you know.” Minseok opened his eyes and used two hands draw him in for a closer hug. “I won't lie and say I'm not worried for you. Take it slow, get to know him more. And come talk to me if ever you need, okay? Humans are difficult creatures. They make life difficult for themselves, on purpose, because they can.” He laughed, half-rumble half-purr. “Humans should definitely sleep more. It makes life better.”

“You only say that because you're a cat and you have nothing better to do,” Luhan teased softly, indulgently. It brought a smile to Minseok's sleeping face, and Tao couldn't help but smile too. Couldn't help but remember part of the way Sehun had looked at him last night. 

Tao flopped on the bed and rolled until he was belly up, arms above his shoulders, cradling his head. 

“What are you smiling about?” Minseok asked him.

It made Tao grin wider, wanting to be cheesy. “Just last night. He really is nice away from home.”

Luhan actually scoffed at that. “Is he now?” Minseok shushed him.

“I accidentally scratched him, and he wasn't upset,” Tao continued, beaming happily. “And some people were staring at me, and he held my hand and made me feel better.” 

“Can I cough up a hairball now?” Luhan asked.

“You don't get hairballs. Shut up, and let him be in love,” Minseok ordered.

Luhan smirked. “Does he at least give good kisses?” 

Minseok gasped and swatted the other cat, causing the two to break out into a minor skirmish on the bed while Tao continued smiling as he was rocked to and fro, memories from a few days ago still playing on a loop his brain. 

“He does.”

Both of them gasped this time, halting their scuffle. Luhan's mouth opened wide, eww and disgust written on his face. “Sorry I asked, but please don't tell me any more details.” He rolled over with his back to the others and pouted grumpily until Minseok laughed. 

“Like I said, take it slow,” he repeated, and Tao nodded firmly. 

 

 

When Tao was gone, shortly thereafter, Luhan sighed happily, twisting back around to face the love of his life. He nudged playfully into Minseok's side, and Minseok groaned, pretending to be annoyed.

“Alone, finally,” said Luhan.

Minseok swatted at his wandering hands. “We're almost always alone. Why do you have to get so grumpy at the kitten. He's going through a casual life crisis right now.” He smiled, in spite of his words.

“It's not just him,” Luhan whined. “But someone is always bothering us. I never get you all to myself.” He wiggled pitifully, demanding attention. 

Minseok sighed. “You're exaggerating. As usual.”

“No, I'm not. You keep our door always unlocked. Someone is always crawling into our bed at all hours of the day. If I'd wanted kittens, I wouldn’t have chosen the shelter life. I'd be at some breeding factory right now. Actually, maybe that would have been better, because then I wouldn't have to even see any other kittens. I'd be minding myself all day...”

“Sleeping in a locked room, and you wouldn't have me,” Minseok reminded him.

“Oh yeah, you're right. Then I wouldn't have you,” Luhan concluded. “I take it all back. I love it here. I love the house. I love the kittens - mostly - I love you.” He rolled completely over the eldest's cat's tiny body, knees and elbows cradling Minseok from above, but ever careful not to squash him with his full weight. Minseok pressed his hands lightly to the underside of Luhan's chest, fingers tracing the fabric of his shirt and smiled up at him. 

“Love you too,” he said, before Luhan leaned down and kissed him. 

It was entirely too short a duration for Minseok. Before he could even really reciprocate, Luhan pulled his head back and stared at him, concern lacing through his features as he crouched, still holding himself up on arms and knees. 

“Minseok, you don't think about anything from before, right? You're not reminded of the humans who owned you? It's completely gone from your life now, right?”

Minseok didn't remind him that by asking, Luhan was actually bringing up the memories from his past. It didn't matter though, because the only thing his body ever remembered anymore was Luhan. Faded dreams and nightmares were all that was left from before, and even those had disspitated over the years. It had been six years since his rebirth, and two years prior that he'd lived, broken and alone, returned to an agency before Yixing came for him.

“All gone,” he told Luhan now, face pressing up, lips searching for another pair to caress.

He closed his eyes, not wanting to see Luhan's sad expression, eyes that were so often more sad than Minseok's own.

“I hate the people who did those things to you,” Luhan whispered as he worshiped Minseok's face, eyes, nose, cheeks and chin. Slowly, he allowed his weight to sink further into Minseok's, and Minseok relished in the comforting cocoon of Luhan's warmth. His hands held Luhan up, however, just slightly.

“It doesn't matter anymore.”

Luhan peered down at him sadly. “I know you say that. But I'll never stop reminding you that to me it doesn't matter. I'll love you forever. It just... makes me so angry. And...” Luhan's breath caught. “I know I pretend that I don't care, but I worry for Tao too. I don't want the same things happening to him. Humans... they're...”

“They're not all like that, Lu. Sehun... he isn't like that. He won't be like that. He more anyone is capable of loving a cat the way they should be loved.”

“But... what you said about him...”

“Give him a chance. He just needs to come to terms with a few things first.”

“Like what? You keep saying things. And... and it's not exactly a secret he doesn't like us very much. Why now? What's different now?”

Minseok sighed, oddly amused that Luhan was choosing this moment to talk about the human boy, this moment when they finally had the privacy Luhan had been begging for all day. Their door was shut, chances were that nobody would interrupt them for the rest of the afternoon and... here Luhan was being worried about a kid they almost never talked about in any other circumstance.

“Tao. Tao's what's different.”

“But what's so different? If he likes cats, then why doesn't he like us?”

Minseok knew the answer, or at least he guessed it. Saying it out loud though would only upset Luhan. Saying it out loud would only remind Luhan of something the cat already thought about too much, and Minseok was too old to give over to what-if situations and Luhan turning gloomier than he typically could be. It wasn't their fight anyway.

“Just let them be, Lu. They'll figure out life on their own. In the meantime...” He arched his back a little, giving Luhan a hint of what he wanted. “Unless you want to continue napping...” He watched as Luhan's eyes glazed over, and different thoughts took shape. Thoughts of things they could do now that Tao was gone and they were alone.

“Ohhh, hmmm, how about no nap?” Luhan agreed before kissing him again.

 

{Who Knows Anything About Sehun}

 

 

On Friday, several days after their tumultuous weekend, Kai did the unthinkable. He called Yixing privately and asked if he could visit the agency again and spend time with the kittens. Yixing delightedly agreed, a little too delighted if Kai had anything to say about it, which he didn't. He kept his mouth closed, almost too embarrassed to speak or to admit he was looking forward to it. It wasn't that he'd had a particular stellar time playing with the girl kittens on Sunday. He'd had his hair pulled, Choa had practically gnawed a bald spot on part of his tail, and there was even one accident when Way got too excited and threw up on his pant leg. It wasn't pretty, but it honestly didn't matter to Kai. He felt somehow like being there was a worthwhile thing, even more worthwhile than working part-time. At his workplace he only spent time answering phone calls and trying to look polite when strangers - and some co-workers - gave him a double-take for being a hybrid. At the agency, he was a role model, and Kai had never felt like a role model before. Sometimes, change is good.

“We can eat dinner with the kittens and staff, if you'd like,” said Yixing as he parked their car. “I called Chaelin earlier, and she said she'd be delighted to have us join.”

If everybody was going to be so _delightful_ today, Kai wasn't sure he wanted to partake yet.

“Sure,” he agreed glumly.

“That'll be fun then. It'll let you see them in a different environment than before. Let them see how adults don't necessarily throw their food around. Unless of course you have awful table manners. And then I'd have to ask you to tone it down for today.” Yixing laughed at his joke. Kai smiled un-amused.

There was no one to meet them at the back door. Yixing rang the buzzer and they waited a few moments until Chaelin could open it. She looked slightly less haggard than she had on the weekend, not that Kai really cared about people who peddled kittens for a living. Yixing would probably snap at him though if he were to say it aloud. 

“Hello, hello,” Chaelin greeted them. “Glad you could come by. Kai, the twins have been asking about you ever since you left! 'When's he coming back?', 'Is he going to play with us tomorrow?', 'Will he visit us when we go to our new home?'“ 

Kai swallowed heavily, suddenly sad when he remembered the girls would be leaving within the week. Just a few more days, if he remembered correctly. He really should have come again before now.

Yixing and Chaelin exchanged a look. “Well, that's certainly something to think about,” Yixing told her, and then looked at Kai.

“What is?” he asked, trying his best to look unexcited.

Chaelin smiled smugly. “We were thinking about asking you to join the visitation team. Part of our adoption policy stipulates that families must open their homes to agency specialists, to make sure the kittens are adjusting well, or aren't being mistreated, either purposefully or unintentionally.”

“I...” Kai didn't know how to answer right away.

Yixing apparently understood. “Think on it, hm?”

They didn't require him to answer further. Instead, Kai made his way to the girls' wing expecting to find the twins. They weren't there, but an elderly volunteer mopping the floors soon directed him to the kittens' joint playroom. 

Boys and girls together were racing around, shrieking and laughing, with one even sleeping in the middle of all the chaos. For having six boys over two girls, the twins were certainly holding their own. Choa was dictating play instructions to several of the boys while her sister Way stood on, second-in-command. A few disobeyed them, one sat grumpily in the corner, but nobody really cared.

Bobby was here too. He sat in and observed everyone, keeping the play from getting too rough. He greeted Kai lazily when he entered and quickly introduced him to the boys Kai had only briefly seen before. “Niel, Chanhee, Chanjo, and Byungie there. Don't mind Minsoo. He's sulking. Oh, and watch out for Ricky. He was tearing around here not five minutes ago and now he's... dead asleep... in the middle of the floor... as usual.”

Kai had almost no time to even talk to the boys because the twin girls were on him in a heartbeat. After half of hour of this, he knew he wouldn't be able to let them go. He made up his mind that he'd talk to Yixing again, and definitely join the visitation team. There was almost no chance the kittens in this agency would end up like him, turned out at fifteen to unsavory human owners. But just in case, Kai wasn't going to accept even the slightest possibility that it might happen to them. 

He wasn't paying attention when another of the staff entered the room to relieve Bobby, nor did he bother to look up at the figure until it was time to lead the kittens to dinner. He didn't recognize him either until all the hybrids were halfway through their supper and Yixing came into the room, and Chaelin greeted the man by name. 

“Oh, have you met Kai, yet?”

 

 

“What is this for?” Tao asked. He was leaning against Sehun's desk, once again sequestered in Sehun's bedroom alone together, and he was definitely planning to sleep here again. Jongdae said it was alright when he asked in advance, even though he'd laughed his head off silly at the question. _'But only if Sehun's alright with it! You don't want to force him into anything!'_ Jongdae had concluded with another wrenching laugh. 

“It's for my class,” Sehun answered now.

“I thought you'd already turned in your paper.”

“I have multiple classes, and more than one essay per year, you know, Tao.”

The hybrid pouted. He loved hanging out with Sehun but every now and then the human would treat him like an idiot who didn't know anything about the world, and while that may partially be true, Tao didn't really appreciate it. Most of the time though it was unintentional, like now. Tao had been mostly entertaining himself while Sehun studied, or attempted to study. Tao knew that he was a minor distraction, and he used that to his best advantage. 

“Is it time to go? You said you'd feed me.” Tao padded across the room to stand behind Sehun's chair and when Sehun didn't answer right away, he covered his eyes with his hands. Sehun instantly flinched and tried to dodge it, so of course Tao did it again. As a rule, he didn't particularly like being ignored, unless he's in a mood to be ignored, but it should definitely come at his own insistence, and not on the part of the person he wants attention from.

As Minseok had predicted, Sehun wasn't always the easiest person to be around, but that didn't stop Tao from trying. Since the morning he woke up here, Tao had visited every day. The first times were on Sehun's invitation and after that he just assumed he was allowed over whenever he wanted. Sometimes they just talked about any old random thing, and other times Tao napped while Sehun studied. Occasionally Tao watched him when Sehun thought he was asleep, wondering what Sehun was thinking, what Sehun thought about him, about them. He only had his musings because Sehun never talked explicitly about anything if he didn't have to. He still hadn't brought up the reasons behind his outburst almost a week ago. He didn't talk about his dad or the work he did, and he never once mentioned another cat in Tao's presence and dodged every conversation if Tao brought someone up.  
_  
“Baekhyun did a stupid thing today, did I tell you?”_ Tao had mentioned, just yesterday.

Sehun had only grunted. 

_“Or did I tell you? I can't remember now.”_

_“You probably did.”_

And that was the end of it. Tao read mixed emotions on Sehun's face, and most of them were saying how Sehun wasn't interested in anything about shelter life. He listened when it had something to do with Tao, but not when it involved anyone else exclusively. After a while, he stopped trying that method altogether. As long as Tao had something to share about himself that Sehun reciprocated, it was good enough. Almost.

“We _are_ going to eat, right?” Tao insisted now.

“Yes, yes, sorry. I just wanted to finish this paragraph....” Sehun replied finally. Tao gave him a moment, his hands clasped now around his neck instead of his eyes. Sehun used to be wary of Tao's nails, but every day now Tao remembered to clip them, so not to have another accident like the last time.

He pressed the round edges into Sehun's neck now, halfway between a scratch and a massage, and he rejoiced when Sehun didn't immediately throw them off. Humans, it seemed, liked being pet almost as much as hybrids did, especially around the neck and shoulders.

“Okay...” Tao said, but Sehun wasn't done yet.

Tao started to move away, bummed, but before he could remove his hands, one of Sehun's reached up to stop him. Tao froze in place - breath still too - at the sight of Sehun's hand resting gently on top of Tao's own. Sehun craned his neck around and smiled apologetically.

“I'm sorry,” he started to say. 

“I'm really hungry...” Tao cut him off.

“I know. I'll make it up to you?” Sehun volunteered. 

“You better.”

Tao had no idea if this was what people called dating, but he didn't mind it, whatever it was. Jongdae was an eager inquirer whenever Tao came home from Sehun's place, asking what they talked about or what they did, even though Tao didn't have much to tell him. _”We talk, we watch TV, listen to music, or we eat food. Sometimes we go driving and get food through a window and it smells amazing! Fries! Have you tried fries before? Oh, and every now and then he kisses me...”_

This was one of those times. With his eyes closed and Sehun's lips on his - apologies and food both forgotten the moment Sehun had stood up and Tao jumped at him - Tao could almost forget he was a half-species removed. Man and cat had no distinction, not even when his tail stood on edge from emotions or when Sehun's hands brushed alongside his pointed, furry ears and then scattered to pull at the rest of his hair and draw Tao closer to him.

These moments were defining for Tao, proving that Sehun liked him more than just as a friend. They talked about so many things that weren't really important in the grand scheme of life, but this, this hinted at something more, Tao was sure of it.

They only parted when Tao's stomach gave one particularly horrid rumble. Sehun pulled away with a smirk and a laugh, and Tao frowned in embarrassment. 

“Should we take care of this then?” Sehun said, patting his stomach slightly through Tao's t-shirt. 

“Mmm. That would be nice.” Tao gave a nonchalant, almost haughty shake of his head, which Sehun saw through. He smiled brighter, and minutes later he had his car keys, wallet and shoes and they were out the door. 

“I never knew fast food even existed. How come we don't get fast food at home? I can't figure it out.”

Probably because it requires going out to get it?” Sehun answered.

Tao inclined his head and shifted in the passenger seat. “Ahh. Makes sense. Hey, do you have to have a car to get it though?”

Sehun shook his head. “No. You can go inside, but it still requires a vehicle to get you places first.” He raised his eyebrows playfully.

And here was another hurdle in a hybrid's life. According to Yixing, only a few cats were actually approved to take drivers' licenses. He'd seemed hopeful that this was about to change, but so far most of the hybrids who got it were pets whose owners had become too sick, ill, or old to drive themselves. 

Sehun was far from ill, old or disabled, so Tao didn't have high hopes for acquiring a license. While Sehun drove the familiar route to their local fast food chain, he pondered silently why he'd even gone there with his thoughts - driving for Sehun, like pets drive for their owners. Because Tao was surely no pet, even though he liked Sehun a lot... 

The first whiff of fries quickly turned his head. 

They didn’t get the opportunity to enjoy their meal for very long, however. At first Tao didn’t notice anything, thinking the ringing sounds were coming from the radio which Sehun had turned down low. But Sehun immediately started feeling around his pockets until he could produce his phone and he pulled it out finally to stare intrigued at the caller.

“Isn’t this your house number?” he asked Tao. “Why are they… _Hello?_ ”

All thoughts about his food died the instant Tao picked up on Jongdae’s frantic voice over the line. Even Sehun seemed confused. “ _Yes, he’s here_ … Take it,” he said, handing it to Tao.

“Jongdae?”

“Tao! Hey, uhm… look I hope I’m not interrupting anything terribly important but… would you mind coming home? We have a bit of an emergency here…”

Without answering Tao looked to Sehun who had heard most of it already. He nodded and changed courses immediately to go back home.

“It’s no problem,” Tao answered. “We’re on our way back. What… is going on?” He had fears he hadn’t ever really mentioned to anyone before. For example, what if Minseok got sick? What if Luhan got sick? What if Baekhyun accidentally buried himself under ten pounds of dirt or Kyungsoo rolled his eyes too far and got his eyeballs stuck in the back of his head?

“It’s Kai… He uhm, just got back from the agency we visited and… something happened while he was there and… I can’t really explain it but he’s currently rampaging and none of us knows what to do about it. So just, hurry home, okay?” Jongdae’s controlled words belied his distress. Jongdae never got upset, but this was something different. 

Tao didn’t try to repeat Jongdae’s full message. He didn’t understand it anyways, and Sehun didn’t ask. Without speaking they drove the rest of the way home until Sehun was pulling up in front of the house and Tao jumped out before the engine was even turned off. He raced to the front door, unaware that Sehun was following curiously, silently.

The house was indeed chaos. Rarely ever were the hybrids all gathered in one spot in one room, but Baekhyun and Kyungsoo had Kai pinned down in a seated position between them on the couch while Minseok was trying to talk to him. Luhan stood behind them wringing his hands in anxiety, and Jongdae paced speechless until he saw Tao enter.

Kai didn’t even notice he’d come in. He sat with his elbows on his thighs and his head in between his hands and Minseok crouched in front of him with his hands helping to cradle Kai’s head. Kai gave one big sniff and Tao realized he was crying, and not just crying but nearly hyperventilating.

“Shhh shhh shhh, calm down,” Minsesok was saying.

Tao looked to Jongdae to explain, and in hushed whispers Jongdae told him what little he knew. “He came home about twenty minutes ago. Dropped off, and he was looked upset and furious and hurt and I don’t even know what, but after a minute he started yelling and he nearly took off Baekhyun’s head when he asked him what was wrong.”

“I can hear you talking about me, you know,” Kai gasped from halfway across the room.

Jongdae winced and stopped speaking, but Tao didn’t. “I don’t get it. What happened?” he whispered as quietly as he could. It wasn’t quiet enough.

“I said, I can hear you!” Kai roared again, tear-stained face looking outraged and he pulled hastily away from Minseok and even tried to elbow the others off him. “You’re just all sitting here, and I don’t know why you bother! I already said I’m fine and I just want to go to my room!” He tried to stand up, but the others stopped him.

“You’re not fine,” Baekhyun insisted.

“I said I’m fine. It’s up to you guys if you don’t believe me. So don’t try to say anything. You say you’re fine? Oh, yeah? And how would you know the definition of fine, ‘Mr. I pretend life is always fine and always has been!’ Huh?”

Baekhyun didn’t even look offended, he was so worried. Kyungsoo, however, had had enough. “Okay. Maybe we should put him in his room.”

“Oh that’s just great. Put me in my room now that I’m misbehaving. Isn’t that how it always is with cats? You think you can just lock us away when we upset people, and take us out again when you want to play!” He sniffed in between phrases, and despite his distress, his ears were downturned almost in defeat.

Tao didn’t know who or what he was even talking to exactly.

“Do you even know what happened today!? What I saw today!?” Kai suddenly railed.

“No, because you won’t say,” said Kyungsoo lamely.

“I saw—“ He choked before he could finish, and then he started crying again, his yelling match over for now. “I saw… him. It was him. From when I was there… in there. In a place like that…”

Minseok eyed him suspiciously. “You mean someone you knew before?”

“Y-yes.” Kai’s voice had sunk deeper, softer, and he covered his face once again with his hands. “He worked at the place I came from. He used to be nice. He pretended like he was raising us, but he didn’t lift a finger when we were sent away. I used to think he didn’t know. Didn’t know what kind of people they sold us too, otherwise he’d have never let them take us anywhere. I used to think, if only I could go home, back to the agency, and tell him, that he’d do something to save us. To save me.”

Behind his head Luhan looked on intently, and Tao watched as Minseok looked up and their eyes met briefly. An unspoken question went between them, and Minseok nodded almost bitterly.

Baekhyun as well looked more compassionate. “He was there today? He works at Chaelin’s agency?”

Kai mumbled. “Yes. I didn’t notice him at first. H-he… he works there now.”

“Had you seen him before? Since the first time you left?” Baekhyun asked. Minseok looked like he already knew the answer.

“Yes,” Kai said solemnly. “My…. My owners. They said I was broken, so they sent me back. He was still there. And I told him. Everything. Everything they did. He said he’d take care of it. Talk to someone and make sure they wouldn’t do it again. But he didn’t. They got another cat even younger than me even though he promised me, and then a few months later I was sold again and these people were even worse…”

He didn’t want to talk anymore. Tears clouded his eyes, even though most had already dried on his face. In a rare moment Kyungsoo leaned in to hug him, and Baekhyun held his hand. Minseok had a faraway look but he still tried to focus on Kai.

Jongdae stood on helpless, but he couldn’t have been nearly as helpless as Tao felt. It was like watching a train wreck all over again, except this time it wasn’t a drunk Kyungsoo, it was an entirely sober but broken Kai, and now Tao had an idea why he always kept to himself. Why he didn’t really crave interaction and why he yearned to be as independent as possible. Twice owned and twice returned. That’s what somebody had told Tao once. One of Yixing’s rescue cats but he hadn’t just been saved from a life of unknown. Kai had known exactly what was out there and what he was escaping from.

Tao would have thought him brave, if only Kai would agree with him. 

He opened his mouth to say something – what, not even Tao knew. There wasn’t anything he could say to Kai except that it pained him to watch this, but probably that notion wouldn’t go appreciated by the currently distraught hybrid on the couch.

Tao’s voice squeaked enough though to draw Kai’s attention. For one moment Kai looked mortified and embarrassed, but the next moment his eyes skipped past Tao’s and landed on a person behind him. Tao had already forgotten that Sehun followed him in.

“You brought _that_ thing in?” Kai growled deeply. He made to stand up but Baekhyun held him down.

Sehun gulped. “I’m sorry… I’ll go. I’m going.”

“Oh, now you’re going? Just like that?” Kai’s tone started to grow in volume again. He changed targets. “Is this who you’ve been spending all week with?” he asked Tao.

Tao barely nodded. He still remembered the last time Kai had gotten upset, but he hadn’t stopped then to really consider why. All week the other cats had been shielding him, enough that Kai didn’t know, but he didn’t think it was really a big deal.

“Hey, I wasn’t done talking to you,” Kai said now to Sehun. The human stopped in his tracks and reluctantly turned around, cowardly avoiding every face that was now focused on his.

“I… was just dropping Tao off.”

Kai smirked and succeeded in shrugging Baekhyun off his arm, although he didn’t stand up. “What. You think just because you’re Yixing’s kid you can waltz in here whenever you like? Or you think you can just have our kitten whenever you want? Why, Sehun? You don’t give the rest of us even one fraction of your concern so why him, huh? Is it because he’s young and untainted, is that it?”

Minseok fretted. “Kai, stop it. You’re mixing up two very different situations right now and—“

Kai didn’t even seem to hear him. “So now you’re not even going to answer that?” he continued his interrogation.

Sehun’s jaw seemed to rise a couple inches in defiance, and Kai finally stood up to challenge. Ten feet stood between them, but all the hairs on Tao’s back, head and tail suddenly stood on end.

“It—it’s not like,” Sehun said, finally meeting Kai’s gaze.

“Oh, it’s not huh? So tell us why now, when you haven’t given a shit about hybrids your entire life?”

“Kai…” Minseok warned again.

Kai snapped at him. “What do you care? You know how he treats us.”

“He doesn’t treat us like anything at all, and you need to stop,” Minseok declared.

“Exactly, though!” Kai wasn’t backing off anytime soon though. “He pretends we’re not even here half the time but now he’s dragging Tao all over the place and having him sleep over, and you’re just fine with that?”

Minseok was now standing level with him, although regretfully shorter. Even still, he didn’t bristle under fire. “It’s none of your business, and it’s none of ours to dictate how Tao lives his life, and I _said, you_ need to back down.”

“So you’re just going to let him waltz away and steal whoever he wants—“

“I’m not _stealing_ or waltzing away with anybody, I’m just—“ Sehun tried to insert.

Minseok held up a hand to him. “Quiet for a minute!”

But to Tao’s horror, Sehun’s face seemed to be alighting in fury more and more with every passing second. “Oh, so now _you_ two are just going to talk about me like I’m not even here!” he yelled. Tao tried to make him look at him, but Sehun either refused or he just couldn't see him for all that his anger was starting to consume him. He glowered between Kai and Minseok, and mostly at Kai, but at his outburst, even Luhan snapped.

“Don’t you dare yell at us in our own home! This may be just a safe house to your family, but this is _our_ home and our domain! You’d better leave if you’re going to—“

“Oh, don’t stop him now, Luhan,” Kai interjected. “Not when he’s finally acknowledging that we even exist!”

“Can’t everyone please stop fighting?” Baekhyun cried in a small voice.

“No, not until we solve this,” said Kai resolutely.

“What’s there to even solve?” Kyungsoo asked, more to himself than to the room at large.

“Can’t I say something?” Tao and Jongdae had stood to the side mostly forgotten throughout this whole thing. Jongdae reached for his hand reassuringly, eyes wide and eager to help but he just didn’t know how.

“What’s the point?” Kai asked. “It’s not like you even know anything about humans. You lived with an old man most of your grown life. Lucky you! And _you_ ,” he snapped once more at Sehun, “you know, I actually prefer it when you’re not hanging about here.”

Kyungsoo sighed loudly. “Kai, quit. Would you stop pretending that you’ve never been around a single human in the past few years? They’re not all about to jump and torture you, so _shut up!_ You don’t have a single problem with Yixing, Joonmyun, Chanyeol or any of your co-workers so—“

“Suddenly you know everything?” Kai retaliated in a heartbeat.

“No, I don’t know everything. But I’m saying that you don’t know everything either, so quit being so dramatic.”

“Because you’re one for dramatics. ‘Oh Joonmyun, please, please just take me, why don’t you just take me?’”

Kyungsoo paled and stood up, and no one had anything to say. For a moment, Tao thought Kyungsoo might try to punch him, and the silence in the room felt like the slow-beating of a heart about to die. But then he turned on his heels with a steely expression and marched away. They heard the door slam to the computer room, and that was the cue to resume.

“Are you done now?” said Minseok severely.

Kai looked vaguely remorseful, and he looked at Baekhyun who was frowning at him, Minseok who was pissed, Jongdae who was shell-shocked, and Tao with tears starting to trickle down his cheeks. And then he landed on Sehun.

“I’m sorry,” he said without one ounce of sincere apology. “Just trying to protect my own.” He shrugged like verbally attacking people was something he does every day.

“You act like I’m some sort of monster,” said Sehun bitterly with just enough bite to continue fueling Kai’s defiance.

“No. What I’m saying is that you don’t make any sense, and therefore I don’t trust you.”

“I don’t even know what _you’re_ saying!” Sehun cried.

“You don’t? Well that’s too bad. Maybe if you’d bothered to inquire about us before now, you’d actually have a clue what I’m talking about. You know what I think?” Minseok tried once again to get him to stop, but Kai wouldn’t do it. “I think you’re just another dumb human who doesn’t know a single thing about cats, or how our pathetic, _short_ lives are spent at the mercy of people like you.”

Minseok’s ears flared at the same time that Sehun’s cheeks flushed, and Tao bit down on his lip in a panic for where this was going.

“You don’t know what it’s like, Sehun, to live basically like a slave to people who feed you catnip around the clock so that you don’t even know where you are, or what you’re doing, or what’s being done to you.”

“He’s nothing to do with you, Kai,” Minseok warned in a low voice.

“No? But he’s something to do with Tao, and I think Tao needs to know. What people are allowed to do to their _pets_. Don’t you think he needs to know? Or maybe it’s Sehun that needs to know, since he’s so clueless and all. Have you ever had a pet? Other than your stupid poodles, have you ever had a cat? A hybrid? Sehun?”

Sehun seemed to draw himself up taller than Tao had ever seen him before, and Tao barely registered Minseok cursing under his breath.

“I have,” said Sehun.

Everybody but Minseok looked surprised, especially Kai although he recovered soon enough and drew breath. “Well then I guess you know how weak and fragile they can be and—“

“Shut up.”

Tao thought for a moment it was Minseok who had spoken, but he was wrong. It was Sehun, and he looked livid.

“Does this mean you do know then? Wow, I wonder about Yixing, actually allowing a hybrid pet,” said Kai cruelly.

“I said, shut up!”

“What was that? I’m sorry, all I heard is that you’ve apparently owned a hybrid before, so that certainly changes the standards a bit, don’t you think Tao?”

Tao didn’t have any time to react. Not when he was watching Sehun as he exploded.

“She was my mother! My mother! You son of a bitch! And she died years and years ago because stupid hybrids do that! They die young and then they’re gone. So now you know, and I hope that makes you feel better, but don’t pretend that you know anything about my life, _ever again!”_

 

{Further Inquiries}

 

 

Following the aftermath of _that day_ , as Jongdae was starting to call it, nobody in the shelter home really talked much, at least not publicly or in larger groups. The eldest cats kept to their room as they usually did, Kyungsoo kept to his computer, as _he_ usually did. Baekhyun spent even more hours outdoors, and he had Tao with him; this was perhaps the most unusual. Before _that day_ Tao had been a much more social creature, flitting about here and there, or leaving the house to visit Sehun. Now though he was Tao, Master Gardener-in-Training, he didn't leave home, and even Jongdae couldn't get him to open up.

“He's upset,” Baekhyun whispered to Jongdae several days later. Jongdae had finally had enough of the all around silent treatment and cornered the other to inquire about the boy he'd come to consider his kitten. “It's normal. You know how it is. There comes a time when sudden thoughts about mortality strike us. Midlife hybrid crisis, and all that.” Baekhyun tried to make light of it, tried to turn it into a joke, something casual and of no concern. But Jongdae was a hybrid too, and equally cursed with the ability to count and compare. He saw right through him, and he didn't even need to tell that to Baekhyun. 

The elder sighed, and Jongdae sighed right along with him.

“Is... does it have to do with Sehun?” Jongdae made a guess.

“Probably. Partly,” said Baekhyun. 

“Have they even talked since then?”

“A little.” 

“But you don't know what about?” Jongdae asked.

“I don't,” Baekhyun replied. “Although I have a hunch.”

He wouldn't tell him though, and Jongdae didn't pry. He knew he wouldn't be able to anyways. Baekhyun never had words for things like this, confrontations and feelings, or the kind of emotions that emanate from the heart. Baekhyun felt all those things too much, had felt them for years - or years ago, as Jongdae supposed - but Baekhyun's way of dealing with things was to clam up, put on a smile, and wander off. And so Jongdae let him go, no more the wiser about Tao. 

He missed his bubbly kitten, the one that would snuggle at night and tell him tidbits of his day, all the parts and details that Jongdae hadn't already observed. And if anyone knew to ask him directly, Jongdae might admit how he enjoyed living vicariously through all the stages of Tao's crush and blossoming romance with the human boy Sehun.

Now at least, some things made sense. Nobody talked about it, but Jongdae figured every one of the cats including Tao himself must have figured it out on their own. They'd all certainly come to the conclusion that Sehun has/was/had been keeping an emotional distance from them all, ever since the first time he met them. He'd done such a good job too until Tao came along. 

But nothing covered up the fact that hybrids die, and they die young. 

“You knew, didn't you?” Jongdae asked Minseok. It was afternoon and Luhan was completely out of it, sleeping on his back and snoring slightly. Jongdae was tired of the chilly atmosphere in the house. He'd barged right in looking for someone to talk to and promptly climbed right in bed with the two since Minseok at least was still awake, and always good for a cuddle.

“Knew what?” said Minseok. It would have been a coy remark, except he said it with a straight face. He already knew what Jongdae was asking.

“About Yixing's wife. Sehun's mother. She was like us. How did you know?”

Minseok reclined on several pillows and as Jongdae spoke, Minseok pulled him backwards towards himself and started to stroke through Jongdae's hair with one delicate hand. The other clasped him lightly around his chest. Jongdae would have been happy to fall into a nap coma right there. To purr it out and sleep away every morose thought. He rested his head back on Minseok's shoulder, listened as Luhan twitched gently in his sleep, and waited for the answer. 

After what seemed like ages, Minseok said simply, “I asked, and Yixing told me. The first time I met him. I asked the same thing Kai did. 'What makes you think you know anything about us?'“ Minseok paused, stretched out his torso and readjusted. “It had been barely four years since she died - Sehun would have been twelve years old; he was sixteen when I met him - but Yixing told me about his 'wife' with such startling clarity that I couldn't help but to trust him. I wouldn't have gone with just any human at that time. I thought I hated the whole lot of him. But then came Yixing, who had been married in everything but in name to a hybrid woman, and he seemed so wise and loving, and even though he was a widower he was not sad because he'd come to terms with everything already: that the woman he loved would go before him, but that he'd given her the best of his years. The law didn't even recognize their marriage, but it was every bit as precious to him, even then. Even now.”

Minseok's words, as well as the hand through his hair, lulled Jongdae into a pleasant stupor. He closed his eyes, murmured, “He never told the rest of us though.”

Minseok chuckled lightly. “Because nobody ever asked him except for me. Nobody asked Sehun either. I think I just knew instinctively, and so I asked. Did you never look at the family pictures in Yixing's house? You would have seen her there. Yixing doesn't hide things. He just doesn't volunteer things except to people who care.”

“You know everything,” whispered Jongdae without casting any guilt. Truthfully though he was ashamed at himself. He hadn't noticed anything, hadn't even thought to ask. He figured Sehun was a willful teenager who'd turned into a stuck-up young adult, and Jongdae hadn't looked any deeper. “Do you know why Baekhyun is so sad these days too?” he asked Minseok hopefully.

Minseok huffed softly. “Now that I do _not_ know. You'll have to ask him yourself. Who knows what his real story even is. I'm not sure even he likes to think about it.”

 

 

 

Evenings in the garden were starting to become bearable thanks to the slightly cooler weather that had rolled in over the last week. Tao was grateful for it. Something about the house seemed stuffy now and Tao didn't like being inside. Perhaps this was how Baekhyun felt and that's why his elder was almost always to be found outside. There was comfort in the garden where flowers blossomed and died and bloomed again, where herbs grew back with a vengeance thanks to Baekhyun's ever nurturing attention. Indoors there was nothing. It was just a place where hybrids lived and where they'd probably die if they never got out. Baekhyun told him he was too young to be thinking such thoughts, but think them he did. Tao couldn't help thinking those thoughts, speaking those words. The problem was, nobody responded to them much, not even Baekhyun. 

Perhaps he could have gone to Sehun, but all thoughts about him had taken a turn as well. The fact that Sehun's mother had been a hybrid, the fact that she was already gone. The fact that both of them were without mothers, and for Tao a father too, because of a cruel twist of biogenetic wiring. Whoever tampered with the first hybrid species hadn't done them much justice. Twice the lifespan of the original feline, roughly half the span of a human's. They were two species combined in one but forever trapped between the extremes, a poor average of the two. No wonder they were seen as pets rather than people. However could humans handle living beside something that looked like them, thought like them, but didn't live as long as them. 

Sehun's wounds were still fresh, of that Tao understood. Kai had ripped open the scabs of loss, but it had been there under the surface all the time. Bitterness. 

_“Is this what you see when you look at me?”_ Tao had asked him that same day, a mere half an hour from the confrontation. He'd followed him outside, silently, until the silence became unbearable and Tao had to ask. _“Is that what you see? Something that's going to die one day?”_ he pressed soft-spokenly. 

_“N-no,”_ Sehun had uttered. _“Of course not.”_

_“But that's how you see my friends. That's why you won't bother getting to know them.”_

Sehun hadn't answered that question, hadn't responded to the statement Tao was surely just confirming. 

_“What makes me any different then? Just because I'm younger than them? I'm still the same as they are.”_

_“Y-You're not though. You're different,”_ Sehun cried.

_“I'm not. I'm the same,”_ Tao reaffirmed. He hadn't talked to him again since then. He didn't know how to. What else was he supposed to say? He was sorely upset and hurt, and mad at Kai for pushing them all this far, and he wanted to comfort Sehun in the aftermath of it all. But perhaps his form of comfort wouldn't help. He was just a hybrid after all. One day he'd go just like Sehun's mother.

He wondered how Yixing dealt with it. Yixing was a rock, solid and stalwart. He never acted like Tao imagined a widower might. But now he understood why Yixing was such a hardcore activist, and why he seemed to care so much for the rescue cats under his care. Why he advocated for a more humanly take on the hybrids' lives in the eyes of regular people. 

He also understood why Sehun seemed to know so much about hybrids, what they were like, what made them tick. How to defend them. He did it unconsciously, but only for Tao, and that made Tao bitter. He didn't want to be treated differently, not if it meant being treated differently than the hybrids he'd come to consider family. Was Minseok any less worth knowing because he had fewer years left in him? Was Luhan? Baekhyun? Kai, Kyungsoo, or even Jongdae who had smiles for everyone and no aim in life except to please as many people as he could and be happy?

Tao heard the cat before he saw him. He was laying on his side pretending to pet the lemongrass when Jongdae came into view. Tao knew he must be looking for him. He hadn't spent much as time with him lately, and that was all his own fault. Tao missed him though, therefore he rolled over when he knew Jongdae was approaching and smiled lazily up at his fellow hybrid. 

“Hello.”

“Hi yourself,” said Jongdae. He squatted down, stretched out his legs and sat down primly, hands in his lap, tail swishing gently behind him along the grass. “How're you?”

“Good,” said Tao, halfway truthfully.

Jongdae smiled and remarked, “Good. How is the garden?” 

Tao sat up himself. “It's fine.” He'd never had such a clipped conversation with Jondae before, not since the first few days after he'd moved in, and Tao didn't like it. “It's nice out here. I've... been thinking.”

“Thinking? About what?”

“Oh, I guess not really thinking. Just, meditating? No, that's not the word either.” Tao grimaced in frustration. “It's spacious. Peaceful! And, I don't know.”

“That's okay. I think I understand.” Jongdae looked down, his soft smile still in place. 

Tao had the distinct impression that somehow Jongdae thought this whole mess was his fault, as if Jongdae could have stopped it. He was the one who'd called everybody home after all. 

“Are you... I'm sorry for ignoring everybody.” Tao changed the subject mid-sentence. 

Jongdae smirked. “What do you have to be sorry for?”

“I don't know. I just feel bad about everything. Everyone. How is Kai doing these days? I haven't seen him around much.”

“He's been in and out. Mostly out. I think he enjoys working, or at least being at work. He's upset too, you know. For yelling at everyone. Kyungsoo won't even look at him. You and Baekhyun don't come in very often. Kai feels bad for disappointing Minseok, so _he_ won't talk to him. I think Minseok has tried too. No good. Maybe you should do it?” Jongdae meant the last line as a joke, but Tao took it a little to heart. 

“Perhaps I should,” he said. He made to stand up, but Jongdae held him down lightly by the wrist.

“Before you go, wait.” He cleared his throat hopefully. “I... uh, want to tell you something... something Minseok told me earlier, okay?”

 

 

Jongdae watched twenty minutes later as Tao strode out the front door intending to meet up with Kai. His message wasn't anything particularly revolutionary, but Jongdae was worried about Tao and his general moodiness these past days. Perhaps after he talked with Kai he would go and find Sehun, talk to him, hear _his_ side of the story. That would probably be best for all, now that the dust had been allowed to settle and everyone was in a calmer mood. 

“Are you doing good deeds again?” Baekhyun accosted him in the kitchen. The twenty-eight year old cat was downing a glass of water when Jongdae entered. He smiled as a few droplets trailed down his chin.

“Maybe,” said Jongdae. “We'll see.”

He waited until the other cat had retreated back outside before pulling open a drawer near the microwave. It was littered with junk but somewhere in there was an address book and phone number. Perhaps nobody would praise him for prying this far, but Jongdae had nothing better to do, and truthfully he didn't think the guy would mind if he called him up for... recreational self-counseling. About how to deal with others in the shelter.

As he trusted, Chanyeol agreed eagerly to swing by and pick him up. 

 

 

 

 

“What are you doing here?”

Tao pretty much expected to be greeted thus. He smiled because Kai's mannerisms had long since ceased to be offensive, even after all they'd gone through this week. Especially after everything this week.

“I came to visit. And to walk you home. You have, what... fifteen more minutes?” Tao glanced at the clock hanging over the lobby desk where Kai worked.

“Something like that.” Kai didn't bother double-checking the time. He looked nervous, defensive. eyes wavering but not quite meeting Tao's as the other took a seat in one of the armchairs. There was no one else in this part of the office building, although Tao did hear some voices coming from down the hallway. “Did you want to talk to me about something?” Kai asked. “Scold me? Yell or get mad? Because if so I know I deserve it all, but if you could just wait for us to leave, I'd be grateful-”

“No, no, no... it's... nothing like that,” Tao insisted. “Just... I came to hang out... with you.”

Kai only blinked at him.

In a softer voice then, Tao said, “I'm really sorry, too, about... everything. That happened to you the other day.” 

“I don't understand.”

“Whatever happened at the agency. Was it... was it really awful? Seeing, that person?”

Before Kai could respond - and Tao wasn't even sure Kai wanted to respond - they were interrupted by a set of young women coming down the hallway, purses and work satchels over their shoulders, giggling and chatting away happily that it was the end of the day. Kai immediately looked away from the other hybrid and greeted them all with smiles. 

“Hey, Kai! We're off for the day. You going home soon too?” said one of the prettiest girls. She swung her short brown hair around and beamed at him. Then her eyes caught sight of the other hybrid and she gasped prettily. “Oh! Who's your friend?”

“Come on, Hyeri,” said one of the other girls. “We're going to be late.”

“Oh, let her flirt,” said a third girl, until she too took notice of Tao. “Oh! Oh my, it's another one. Wow, why are all of you so damn gorgeous?”

Tao and Kai both blushed under their attention. With four ladies preening over him, Tao was at a loss for words. Kai found himself in the awkward position of introducing him to everyone, Tao shaking hands with each girl and saying his name, and both of them grew flustered. Tao could tell though Kai wasn't completely unused to this though. He did make small-talk and respond to a few of the girls' jokes, and seemed to know each of them fairly well.

“Oh, Sojin!” said a girl who'd introduced herself as Yura. “You did invite Kai to our work party his weekend, didn't you? Kai, you heard, right? Are you coming? You can bring Tao along.”

“Yes, please!” said the fourth girl. “That would be fun. More guys to have around. Instead of just our usual set.” She grimaced and made a cute face just as two human guys appeared down the hallway.

“Are you shooting us down again, Minah?” said one. He didn't waste much time bantering with the girls, however, after seeing Kai had a visitor. Kai introduced him as Minhyuk and the man eagerly greeted Tao, asked funny questions about what Kai was like at home, because here he was a chatterbox. - ”Not true,” Kai insisted - and then eagerly jumped into the conversation persuading Kai to come to the work outing. 

The second man Kai introduced as his boss Ilhoon, and although he was a little quieter he smiled politely and shook Tao's hand and he attempted to persuade the girls to leave so that Kai could finish up and leave soon. They finally did, and few more men filtered down the hall, nodded gravely to Kai, and soon it was just Ilhoon and the two hybrids. 

While Kai wandered around turning things off around the building, Tao spoke with Ilhoon. It was a whole lot easier conversing with just one stranger instead of six all at once, and when he found out the man was a friend or sort-of-relative to Joonmyun - which is how Kai got the job - Tao found it even easier. They parted on comfortable terms, Ilhoon volunteering a post for a job if Tao ever wanted it and finally it was just Kai and Tao alone.

Tao cleared his throat. They were standing on the sidwalk outside the building, watching as Ilhoon drove away, and then they started walking back in the direction of home. “That was...”

“Chaotic?” Kai volunteered.

“I was going to say 'fun' but, yeah you're right. It's a little chaotic.”

Kai humphed. “Yeah, it's always like that.”

Tao didn't know what to say. He'd always figured Kai never really liked working here because of how he was treated. A hybrid in the workforce was such a new thing, and he and Jongdae always kind of suspected Kai must dislike it just a shade less than he disliked sitting uselessly at home. 

“They... they don't seem to treat you very different,” said Tao. “Are they all that way?”

“Most, yeah. A few of the older guys still give me a lot of room, snide looks, that sort of thing. The younger people, and Ilhoon, though... they're nice.”

“Just nice?”

Kai frowned, and so Tao dropped the teasing hint to his words. 

“Yeah.”

“If they're nice then what's... the matter?” Tao pried. He figured maybe it had something to do about the 'nice'. Did Kai not like the word, the connotation, the attention?

“Lots of people are just nice. Or, they act that way.” Kai sighed.

That confirmed it in Tao's mind. He wondered for a few paces if he dared to ask Kai more, if he wanted to actually pry into whatever was really bothering Kai. Part of him didn't want to bring up anything worse than what Kai had already been raging about, but then again this was why Tao had come out here after all. To pry.

Tao dared to ask it. “Was the guy that worked at the agency like that? Nice?”

There was a hitch in Kai's breath, but no retaliation. Tao didn't press it and they walked another half a block in silence before Kai said or did anything else. First he sighed, and then he stopped walking - Tao followed suit - but then he started walking again and Tao kept a comfortable pace beside him. 

“He was nice. Still is, actually, apparently. His name is Joonhyung,” he said finally. Then he gave Tao the summary of the last few days. “I... I probably overreacted that day, but I talked to Yixing again, that night. He... he claims Joonhyung left that old place years and years ago after he got sickened by it all. That's why he works at this place now. They are... better than a lot of the other agencies. He couldn't have done anything to help me back then. He tried and was fired for it.” Kai sighed and rubbed his ears like they were an offense to his body, and then he groaned. “Just another thing I have to be regretful over - blowing up on him when it wasn't his fault. Nothing was anybody's fault and I just made everyone so upset. I didn't know about him. I didn't know about Sehun...”

At the sound of Sehun's name, something pulled in Tao's heart. He didn't really want to talk about him, not yet. 

Kai though wasn't breaking down enough to require Tao's full attention. More than anything he seemed weary, as if there wasn't anything new going around in his brain except things he's already told himself over and over, and so Tao let him talk, let him get it all out.

“Lots of people are nice, Tao. Maybe it's just me who's a screw-up.”

“But...” 

“And not everyone are shit-heads like... like some of the people I've known,” Kai admitted quietly. “Somehow though, that doesn't make me feel any better. Humans are scary people. You don't really know what they're like, not truly.”

“Is that why you won't go to that work party?” Tao asked.

Kai chuckled. “Maybe. Maybe they don't actually want me there, and they're just being polite?”

Tao shook his head. “No, it seemed more than that though. Like... maybe they actually do like you? The girls especially.” He nudged Kai in the ribs and when he got a shy smile out of the other cat, he knew he'd read the situation correctly. 

“Yeah, maybe,” Kai said again. “And maybe I like... them. But, saying that is about as far as it will ever go. I mean, why would it go any further? I'm just a hybrid cat. With... a past nobody should ever want to hear about. What's the point?” he finished in a deprecating tone. 

And Tao was sad. If he were Jongdae maybe he would say something now like, 'Ahah! So what? Go after your dream! (And/or talk to Minseok!)' Instead, however, Tao was just Tao, and he knew nothing about life beyond his own little world, and even that much was messed up. He settled for placing an arm around Kai's waist as they walked and another block went by in silence. Initially Kai was startled, but he didn't pull away or make Tao remove his arm. 

“I'm sorry about Sehun, by the way,” Kai finally said, one final block from home. 

“Hm? Oh, that's okay.”

“Is it though?” Kai whispered. “I didn't realize how much he liked you, I guess. I'm sorry I messed that up. All I saw was another strange human monopolizing your time and I was worried... about you. I shouldn't have... I shouldn't have interferred. Some people I suppose really are okay with hybrids, being friends with us or... more. I just didn't think that about him, after all the time I've known him. But, now... now that I know...”

“It's really okay.” Tao tried to stop him. 

“I guess he really would know better than most people. If he likes you, then he likes you and it doesn't necessarily have to mean anything bad-”

“Kai, you don't... please...”

But Kai wasn't listening to him. “He already knows everything about hybrids. Therefore he's got to know what he's doing. Unlike... unlike the people I work with. What do they know about me anyway? Just that I'm a cat? That I'm different? What girl wants to pin her young life to someone like me...”

It wasn't quite the roundabout Tao was going for... Perhaps Sehun was an easier category to talk about after all. 

“What... why would Sehun want to spend part of his life with me though?” Tao turned it back around. 

Kai cleared his throat, stopped walking. “I don't know, but he's probably thinking at least a little bit clearer than any person I know. Maybe... you should ask him?”

“No, no I don't want to ask that,” Tao insisted. 

It was then when he noticed they'd stopped walking. They were several houses from their home still, but blocking their path on the sidewalk one house away was the subject of their discussion. 

Sehun had just seen them. He halted, eyes wide, and three little doggies pulled angrily at the leash to get away and rush over to Tao. Kai stiffened and bristled, traces of fear evident in his eyes but he held his ground, and Sehun didn't drop the leash this time. None of them moved.

“Will you... will you apologize to him for me, please?” Kai begged. “I'll... do it myself later but, right now... sorry you're on your own.” And then he abandoned Tao by crossing the street to avoid the dogs. 

Sehun gave him a minute to clear the way and then he started forward. Tao didn't move. He wasn't sure he wanted to have this reconciliation out right now, but fate wasn't giving him a choice this very moment. He stood still, waiting for the other to come to him.

“Tao...” said the human in a voice just louder than a whisper.

 

{What Comes Next?}

 

 

Tao missed him. That was the first thought running through his brain. It had kicked off the moment they met on the sidewalk and Sehun said his name and Tao wanted to hear it said like that again and again. They were only several days removed from the last time they'd spoken. Minutes earlier Tao thought that wasn't enough time. Now it was definitely too long. He just didn't know how to initiate whatever this was... was it a reconciliation? Did they have something to reconcile? Tao thought they must. Sehun looked liked they must.

They agreed to walk the dogs home first, but the tension between them caused them to remain silent the whole way to Sehun's house, and even after the dogs were put away and Sehun inquired a silent _what now?_ Tao still didn't know what to say.

They ended up at a local coffee shop and cafe because Tao didn't want to remain in Sehun's home, in Sehun's room, staring at a bed where he'd slept and dozed so peacefully plenty of times. He didn't want to contaminate those memories now, in case anything went wrong. And still they didn't speak about it, about anything, until Sehun had a cold drink between his hands and Tao sniffed at a steaming cup of tea, tail curling around beneath and around the chair legs, and he really tried not to look like a chastised animal, but he was so nervous he could hardly help it. He guessed by the whispers going around the cafe that people assumed he was a pet in trouble with its owner, for all that neither of them looked entirely happy with the other. They probably should have stayed somewhere private instead of dragging this outside, but it was too late now.

They hadn't said anything yet that was relevant to the situation, and so to regain some semblance of control Tao decided he might as well go first. He cleared his throat but Sehun beat him there. 

“So, how have you been?” he asked him. Tao figured he wasn't asking what he had for breakfast or where he napped yesterday, but judging by Sehun's soft voice, he was obviously upset by the atmosphere as well, and trying anything to make this sound like a normal situation.

“Fine,” said Tao. He said it shortly, clipped. It was harsher even than he intended.

Sehun seemed like he didn't know where to go from there. “That's good,” is all he said.

“Yeah.”

“How's your tea?” 

“Hot. And yours?”

“It's fine.”

It was scintillating conversation. An old woman sitting at the next table even looked over, bemused by their talk, by the space between their dialogue, by the stutters and the way they didn't look each other in the eye, not directly anyways.

Sehun sighed. “I'm sorry,” he said finally. He opened his mouth to say more, and then got flustered and whatever words he had fizzled out. 

“I'm sorry I didn't know about your mother,” said Tao to fill the gap. “You... you could have told me about her. I would have liked to know.” 

“I'm sorry.”

Tao huffed, softly. “You said that before.” And then he smiled. “Seriously though, I... I don't know what to say now.”

“You don't have to say anything,” said Sehun. “Really, it's me who's at fault, I think. I got upset. That day. Worse than I should have been.”

“Kai is sorry, by the way,” Tao interrupted. 

Sehun didn't look all that shocked, although he didn't seem terribly pleased that his train of thought was disrupted.

“I'm sorry, please go on,” said Tao. He made a note to himself to repeat that third-person apology at a later, more appropriate time, if there was one.

Because instead of going on, Sehun slurped his drink and leaned back into his chair. He gave the cafe another look around, and glared at some kids behind Tao's back who were ogling the hybrid. Tao had heard their snickers a few minutes before, and while he held his expression to one of cool ignorance, he was secretly pleased at Sehun's efforts. He may even have a smiled a bit, just one corner of his mouth unfurling slightly, and Sehun saw it. Oops.

He looked down at his drink instead, pretending that hadn't happened. It was the catalyst, however, for Sehun sitting forward. The human placed his forearms on the table and leaned in, all of a sudden more serious than he'd looked all this day. 

“Tao,” he said earnestly. 

The hybrid didn't respond, but he did meet Sehun's eyes cautiously, and he sat up a little straighter.

“Tao,” Sehun repeated. “What I said about hybrids and... how they.. how they...”

“How and when we die?” Tao supplied glumly in a near whisper, because they were still in a public setting and he didn't really want to talk or think about death in such a nice, mundane place as this.

Sehun took a moment to swallow thickly and then he continued on a strangely wavering voice. “Yes... What I said. I didn't, I didn't really mean it. I mean I did say that but-”

“I think you did mean it,” said Tao, and he swore Sehun turned a shade of green. “But that's okay. I mean it's okay to think that way. _I_ do.” Tao shrugged. “Do you think just because I'm a hybrid that I don't feel that life is unfair as well? I lost my parents too, you know. When I was about the same age as you.”

Sehun reached across the table and took his hand. “I'm sorry about that too. You know... when people say, or rather when kids say they've lost parents at a young age, it usually means they died of something uncommon. It's hard to explain to people that your mom... just because she was a hybrid... so, I got out of the habit of really telling people about her. Because to us it was something we knew anyways; it was normal. ”

“You think hybrids are normal?” Tao teased him lightly, and then immediately apologized, head bowed.

Sehun smiled and he clasped Tao's hand a little tighter. “Normal enough. Normal for them. For... _you_.”

And there it was. Tao tried to draw back, to retrieve his hand but Sehun held onto it tightly. 

“I didn't mean to ignore the others,” Sehun said before Tao could try again.

“I know...”

“It just... it was hard then and I was really young. I didn't want to watch it happen again. I was mad at my dad for still being able to treat other hybrids as the same. I guess I wanted him to show bitterness in the same why I did. I didn't want to meet others like my mom and have to deal with the same thing. It, became a habit.” 

For a human being, Sehun was decidedly a creature of habit. Maybe that's why they got along so well. Perhaps Sehun had accidentally made Tao part of his habit, but to the hybrid this wasn't exactly a flattering thought. He tried to sit back again, but instead Sehun added his second hand to Tao's, sliding his palm underneath and enclosing it fully and keeping him close.

“You said you weren't any different, Tao. But you are. You aren't and you are,” he said with a frustrated wavering of his head.

Tao made a face, and Sehun hastened to explain.

“Tao, I like you.”

The hybrid stopped struggling and let his hand fall bonelessly against the table, into Sehun's hand, while he struggled to compute.

So Sehun liked him. Tao knew it. He just wasn't prepared to hear it out loud, although those three words did more for his confidence then he would have liked to admit. He supposed he could be callous and ask something stupid like _why_ or _so what_ , but Tao didn't want to. He was tired of being sad and of ignoring things, and he missed Sehun, or at least how easy it had become just to be around Sehun in a short amount of weeks. He was also a creature of habits after all.

“You didn't want to like me though, I think. At first. Am I right?”

At least Sehun had the grace to look ashamed. “I didn't really think about it then...”

“Is that what makes me different then?” asked Tao.

For answer Sehun hung his head, half-smile awkwardly set upon his lips and he nodded a couple of times. His fingers also closed further around Tao's trapped hand and Tao finally allowed their hands to wind together. Tao's tea was probably drinkable now but that didn't matter. Neither did the place anymore, nor the people around them.

Because in the end, he got to ask his question after all. ”So what now?” 

“I don't know,” said Sehun honestly. “Want to find out though?”

 

 

 

 

As a certified hybrid-social worker, cat counselor, friend and neighbor, Joonmyun felt completely useless, a failure. He'd worked with hybrids and humans for most of his adult life and considered himself reasonably good at his job. He liked doing it, and that was why. Yixing had often chided him that he liked it too much, teased him that Joonmyun was almost too nice, too friendly, too open. That people weren't usually like that and so when skittish hybrids met him they distrusted his warm smile and easy manners. Surely no one was that good. Surely he had other intentions than wanting to just be their friend?

But then Yixing said a lot of crap when he thought it would make Joonmyun smile. Over a decade of working with his friend made them transparent before each other. Joonmyun craved his counsel and treasured their relationship. He wondered what Yixing would have said though if Joonmyun told him about his current situation. Or if perhaps the old man already knew?

Because just this once, Yixing's joke may have been right. Joonmyun _did_ have other intentions. He smiled to cajole and he counseled with ulterior motives, and just this once Joonmyun's techniques may have failed him. He couldn't get through to Kyungsoo, couldn't make him open up, and part of him had grown complacent with his failures. 

He'd never expected anything to change. Never expected to see Kyungsoo so raving drunk that he'd offer himself up to Joonmyun, or that he'd cry and flail when Joonmyun refused, and then steadfastly ignore him for days. Kyungsoo's apology hurt even worse, now that he guessed there was something much more going on inside the bristly cat and underneath his steely exterior. Something to do with... him? Joonmyun didn't, however, dare to presume anything more. Not outwardly, not to Kyungsoo's face, and almost... not even in the deep imaginings of Joonmyun's mind. He couldn't afford such doubts. Or hopes.

For this reason he was torn hopelessly over the situation going on in the other house: Kai's blow up, Tao and Sehun's presumed separation, all the other moody hybrids who'd scattered to their own parts of the house. Joonmyun didn't even know why exactly Kyungsoo was so upset until Kai halfway told him, shamefully and with deep embarrassment. The initiator of everything bad that day had surprisingly been the only cat to seek Joonmyun out. And so Joonmyun fretted about Kyungsoo, as only he could.

He wasn't prepared for the ring of his doorbell. And definitely nothing could prepare him for the sight of Kyungsoo standing before him, less doubtful today as he was the last time, and wearing a backpack stuffed to the brim.

“Hello,” said the cat nicely, while Joonmyun had a heart attack. 

Kyungsoo smiled, no teeth, but he looked sheepishly inward, silently asking if he could come in. Without saying a word, Joonmyun backed away from the doorway and allowed him in. He closed the door softly, as if afraid Kyungsoo might run away if it slammed. 

“Hi,” he managed finally. Joonmyun eyed Kyungsoo's backpack slyly as the hybrid slid it from his shoulders. It landed in a soft thunk by the couch and Kyungsoo caught him looking. Joonmyun pointedly ignored it after that and instead he focused on easing his expression into his finest, most professional counselor-smile. ”W-What can I do for you?” He almost succeeded.

Kyungsoo stared at the carpet, then up at Joonmyun. He toed his backpack and every awkward posture Joonmyun had ever seen on Kyungsoo's face appeared suddenly with a vengeance. “I want to move in.”

Joonmyun forgot how to breathe. The day had finally come, but he didn't know how to trust it. Was this a dream? Had he fallen asleep dreaming? He heard the clock ticking in an otherwise silent room and figured he probably wasn't dreaming if time hadn't necessarily come to a stop. Something about this then was real.

“I want to move in,” Kyungsoo repeated, a little louder this time although his voice was still laced with nervous indecision. Joonmyun continued to stare at him, and Kyungsoo nearly faltered. “C-can I?”

“Why...” whispered Joonmyun.

“Because... I want to...”  
_  
(“I'd rather somebody lived with me because they want to, not because they have to.”)_

Joonmyun's old words stood between them. 

Suddenly Joonmyun understood the significance of the backpack. Kyungsoo wasn't bringing him something to show. He also wasn't running away. He was bringing his things. He was _moving in._ Or at least he wanted to. 

“Why?” Joonmyun asked again. What he meant was, 'Why now and why on earth do you really want to live with me?' He didn't dare say it that way though. He still didn't dare to hope. 

“I thought, perhaps... that you had offered before...” Kyungsoo uttered nervously. His eyes were large and round, but he chewed on his lower lip indecisively, and suddenly Joonmyun got the distinct impression that he was about to retract everything and flee. 

“I did,” he said quickly, and inside his brain he warred with himself. _No, he hadn't_ , not exactly, but that wasn't the point anymore. Or was it?

“Okay,” said Kyungsoo, slightly relieved. “I brought some of my things...”

“You want to move in today?” Joonmyun asked.

“Yes... if I can. Do you have a spare bedroom?”

“Yes. Yes, of course. It's... well it's kind of similar to the other house. It's uh... here. Through here.” He walked like his life depended on it.

Kyungsoo picked up his backpack and followed him down the hall. It really was a similar floor plan to the other house, but where the hallway there veered off into a bathroom and the room Kyungsoo had been using for a computer room, here it separated into a master bedroom, bathroom, and a room of exactly the same proportions. Instead of a desk and mismatching loveseats, however, it had a tiny little bed that hadn't been used in years, a window, a few chairs and random boxes Joonmyun didn't have any other place for.

He hadn't even dusted it in a few months, and the carpet looked sad. Because it wasn't really a room to live in, but more like a place to stash visitors when they arrived. A few of Joonmyun's siblings had stayed here for a night or two, one old college buddy he hadn't seen in several years, and once even a teenage Sehun had crashed here for a couple days when he'd had the misfortune to pick a fight with his father but hadn't dared to really run away, not truly.

It wasn't a room to put a cat, unless that cat was a real one, like Joonmyun's grey tabby who was sleeping in the window even now. It wasn't a place though for a hybrid. Whether that hybrid belonged to Joonmyun or not. 

Kyungsoo, however, seemed pleased. It made Joonmyun's heart simultaneously freeze and palpitate. _What does this mean?_ he wanted so desperately to ask. _And what happens from here?_

“I'm sorry... it's not much.”

“No, no it's great,” said Kyungsoo.

“That's good. Uhm, so... what can I... do you... need me to do anything?”

“Do you happen to have a dresser or something? Closet?” Kyungsoo was already walking over to inspect the closet. “Oh, never mind. It's empty already. That's good.”

Would it be indecorous for a grown man to crawl away and hole up in a toilet or something to call Yixing? Joonmyun wondered. He just wanted to panic out loud. Kyungsoo could explore the house and make himself familiar with everything while Joonmyun tried to figure out whatever the hell was going on. Instead he just gulped and tried to keep breathing evenly.

“You... you're looking at me funny,” said Kyungsoo before Joonmyun could recover. “Is this, really okay?” he asked then.

And Joonmyun wanted to sob. Instead he remembered who he was and he forced himself to be strong and to smile, and by the time he said, “Yes, of course,” he practically believed himself. 

Kyungsoo sighed once again in relief. He dropped his backpack on the foot of the bed and sat down onto it. The mattress bounced and squeaked on its springs and Kyungsoo smiled finally, testing it out. Joonmyun wondered if he should leave and give Kyungsoo time to settle in, but the hybrid was suddenly so radiant before him. His ears stood up in an excited way, and his tail twitched from happiness and Joonmyun knew in that moment that he was doing the right thing for Kyungsoo - whatever it was he was doing. He just wasn't sure it was the best thing for himself. 

In any case, Joonmyun couldn't make his knees unlock and turn away. He leaned in the doorway with his arms folded gently across his chest and it wasn't until Kyungsoo caught him smiling wistfully down at him that the hybrid said anything else.

“Thanks,” he said. “I... I've been wanting to get out for a while now. I won't be a bother, I promise. If you want, I'll get a job and pay you something for rent. I can also help out and I can cook and do house stuff. Unless of course you want me to stay out of your way, in which case I can be super silent and you won't even know I'm here-”

“No, no that isn't... you don't have to do that,” interrupted Joonmyun. 

Kyungsoo looked confused and nervous again. “I don't have to do any of what?”

Anything, Joonmyun wanted to say. Anything at all. Don't work and don't force yourself to do chores because you feel like you owe me, and please don't hide away as if I don't want to see you.

However, it would be condescending probably to tell Kyungsoo he didn't have to earn his keep. The hybrid probably wouldn't appreciate that sort of rejection, but Joonmyun could leave it for a while. “You don't have to hide away. If you live here, then it's your house too. You're allowed to do what you want.”

Spoken like a good uncle, Joonmyun hoped. And still his heart was starting to burn from the inside out.

“Thank you, Joonmyun.”

It was the first time in a long while that Joonmyun had heard his name out of the hybrid's lips. It was also probably the softest, gentlest, and most affectionate tone that Kyungsoo had ever used on him. 

“No problem. Just tell me what I can do to help you adjust, yes?” Joonmyun said.

“Thank you,” said Kyungsoo again. “Okay then: I uhm... like to eat promptly for breakfast and dinner. Lunch can be whenever. I definitely like to take uninterrupted naps from between 10:00 am and noon, from 1:30 until 4:00, and again from 8:00 pm until 7:00 am. Then again, if I wake up in the middle of the night to do something, just ignore me. I don't like visitors I'm not expecting, especially Chanyeol, and I absolutely won't answer the telephone so please don't ask me to. I won't take showers, so the bathtub better be kept cleanish or else I'll never take a bath either...”

Joonmyun was starting to develop lockjaw, and still Kyungsoo continued.

“I'd like a faster working computer, and please don't snoop, or tell me who I can or cannot talk to online. Mess with my bed, and you die. You can pet my left ear, but not my right, and don't you dare touch my tail unless I'm conscious and say it's okay, else I won't be held responsible for any possible, violent consequences. I also don't like people touching my tummy.” He stopped speaking then just as abruptly as he'd started.

“I... uhm....” Joonmyun choked.

An awkward silence hung about the room. Kyungsoo held his gaze and his legs bobbed slightly against the floor and bed, while Joonmyun continued to gape.

“Okay, most of that was a joke,” Kyungsoo confessed. “But I'm definitely not joking about my ears, tail and... tummy, so...” He looked suddenly extremely self-conscious, and this time he averted his eyes and stared at the carpet. 

Somehow Joonmyun managed something in between a chuckle and a moan of despair. “Alright... alright then.” He tried to smile, and Kyungsoo shyly met his eyes, head still lowered. “Is... is that everything you own?” Joonmyun decided to ask instead. He nodded towards Kyungsoo's backpack.

Kyungsoo preened in relief. “Oh, no it's not everything. I have another suitcase and some things at the other house. But I didn't want to bring everything in case you turned me down so...”

Joonmyun exhaled slowly, and then offered to go over and help Kyungsoo fetch the last of his things.


	4. Chapter 4

{Fluff and Hammocks}

When Sehun dropped Tao off at home that night, he didn't stay long enough to really notice the fuss going on inside. He was anxious not to push Tao into something neither of them were sure about. He wanted them to go on, one step at a time, and be more transparent with the other, but Tao was already exhausted from the day’s events, so when he was sure Tao wasn't going to run off and ignore him again, he let him go just for this night.

Sehun slept a little more carefree that night. It wasn't a perfectly restful sleep, but it was better than when Tao wasn't speaking to him. He woke up a bit later than he usually did, checked the clock and decided he still had time to take the dogs for a quick walk before he needed to shower and go to school. His dad brought that plan to a halt though, the moment he stepped out of the kitchen with a piece of toast between his lips.

“I already walked the dogs,” said Yixing while he yawned. 

His dad was dressed again his long robe, slippers on his feet and everything.

“You walked the dogs looking like that?”

He forgot to check first what his dad had in his hands. A newspaper swiped against his head and Sehun whined comically loud. “That was hours ago, for your information. It's ten o'clock already. Isn't an old man allowed to get dressed and go out and then return to put on his pajamas?”

Sehun made a face at him. Any logic that instituted excessive pajama-wearing was beyond his capabilities to attack or defend. “Are you not going out today?” he asked instead.

“Not until this later this afternoon. I've finally gotten through enough red tape that I'm allowed a visitation at the Sooman factory. It's about time, anyways.”

Sehun gulped. “The... breeding place?” 

“Yes, the very one,” Yixing sighed sadly. 

Sehun did the same, mentally. He'd heard nothing good about those places ever, and they rarely allowed outsiders in, in case they were meddlesome activists like his dad - determined to shut them down. It was a wonder Yixing had even gotten this far. Joonmyun had been trying for years, and Amber was actually banned from entering within even twenty feet of the building and grounds.

“How... how did you manage that?” he asked breathlessly. 

His dad winked cheerfully. “Got a few guys downtown who owed me favors. They're letting me in on the pretense that I'm searching for some individual hybrids. Sibling hybrids, technically, of a few pets on their owners' behalf. Tell a factory you'll pay them enough money because some rich guy wants to collect a full, original litter, and they'll practically bow down to you. In any case, it gives me a chance to get in there and scope the place.” 

Sehun almost cheered for his dad. No other old man he knew was quite as cheeky. “So you're not actually looking for siblings?” he asked, assuming that was all a rouse.

“Oh, no. I'm doing that too.” He wouldn't elaborate though and changed the subject instead. “How is Tao?”

The sudden switch caught Sehun off guard. “Tao? He's... he's... okay?”

“I meant, are you and him okay?” said Yixing with a deeper tone to his voice.

“Oh.” 

Honestly, the subject was a bit awkward. His dad never mentioned directly that Sehun was basically pursuing the hybrid, although Sehun was under no delusion that the man was in any way ignorant of the fact. They just didn't talk about it in so many words. It was easier that way, to just assume they both knew.

“I think... so,” Sehun settled for saying.

Fortunately his dad didn't decide to pursue the conversation. “I guess you didn't talk to him after yesterday? Or this morning?”

“No? Why. What's happened?” His dad had a weird look on his face, and it made him suddenly nervous.

“Kyungsoo moved out yesterday evening.”

“What? To where!?”

“Joonmyun's house.”

Sehun only stared at him. “I don't... I don't understand...”

Yixing laughed. “Of course you don't. Clueless as ever, aren't you. You and your tunnel vision.”

Sehun frowned, because that was hardly an explanation, although it was true. He never paid Kyungsoo much attention, hadn't at all until the evening the cat came home drunk and yelling at Joonmyun. His dad didn't really need to put two and two together for him. He figured it out. Remembered all the times Joonmyun, who was like his uncle, had seemed mopey and he wondered why the man never married or dated. Sehun didn't quite realize that it was because Joonmyun was hung up over a hybrid, didn't recognize the signs until Sehun started feeling those same things himself.

“Does that mean, they're... are they... how... _how_ are they together?” He wasn't asking to be incredulous. He really wondered the why's and how's of human-hybrid cohabitation. The thought had been occupying his mind for a long time, longer even than he knew Tao.

“For now, who knows really,” said Yixing with a tight smile. “That's their prerogative to figure out. Although I can be 100% certain it won't involve Joonmyun ever putting a collar around Kyungsoo.” His voice trailed off. “Just as your mother never wore one. And I expect... Tao might never wear one?”

Sehun didn't answer the question implied. Too personal, too embarrassing, too soon. 

“I know that, dad,” he said instead.

One-way ownership – he'd been raised to abhor it.

 

 

He wasn't able to make it over to the shelter until that evening. Several hours of grueling classes and lectures, and then he may have sat overly long visiting with Professor Kwon discussing... hybrids. The house, when he drove up, however, appeared almost deserted. Nobody opened the front door when he knocked, and most of the lights were off except for one or two upstairs. He walked around through the back gate, impatient to see Tao again and instead all he found was Baekhyun.

His footsteps disturbed the cat who was having a light, early evening nap in the hammock. Sehun froze and Baekhyun wiped his eyes with the back of his hand, tail twitching awake as he observed who it was. 

"Sehun?" said the cat sleepily. "Oh, it is you. Hello."

Sehun swallowed, only nodding his head awkwardly in greeting.

"Want to join me?" Baekhyun grinned and indicated the hammock, which had absolutely no room for anyone to join. Sehun balked and Baekhyun laughed out loud. "Just teasing. I suppose you're looking for Tao?" His whole mindset changed between the two sentences, and he looked distant again, reserved.

"Y-yes." Sehun didn't know why he was acting so nervous around the hybrid. Perhaps all of Tao's accusations of him ignoring the other housemates for so long was finally getting to him. And this was the first time he'd met any of them other than Tao, since the day of the blow-up. 

"They're over at the other house."

"Huh? What... other house."

"Joonmyun's?" said Baekhyun. "They're helping Kyungsoo move in the last bits of his things. And most likely driving him crazy in the process, but Kyungsoo probably deserves it. Upsetting everybody so quickly like he did."

"What do you mean?" 

Sehun was probably reaching a milestone for number of words ever spoken to Baekhyun at once. 

"Aren't you supposed to be knowledgable?" Baekhyun teased him, not unkindly. "Cats don't like it when their world changes overnight. Jongdae was howling practically all night when he learned his buddy was leaving. Acting like it's on the other end of the world and not just a few doors down."

"Oh," said Sehun, at a loss for words. He did know that, but then he didn't know or understand the house dynamics that well. 

"Even Luhan," Baekhyun chuckled. "Didn't think it would upset him that much either, but then Luhan has problems. He's upstairs cradling Minseok now, like Minseok will be the next one to go. Sooo dramatic, those two!" but he sighed happily.

Sehun had no words. He tried to recall everything he knew about Baekhyun, and it was sadly not much. Twenty-six and once-owned, he was friendly with everybody but not with any one hybrid in particular. Sehun recounted hearing snippets of someone Baekhyun had loved, but all that was long into the past. These days, that he just liked to garden, and he treated Chanyeol almost like a personal handyman. Or maybe that was every cat in the house. Jongdae in particular had an affinity for ordering the human about.

"You know, Tao mentioned you had a sort of rose garden out in front of your house."

"Hmm??" Sehun was startled.

"Yes. He said he was sad, and he wishes he knew how to make it pretty again."

"Ohh."

"Perhaps you'll let me come and see it when the season is right? I can teach Tao how to maintain a rose garden."

"They were my mother's," said Sehun. In his mind the words sounded defensive and he immediately worried Baekhyun would take it the wrong way. It seemed though that Baekhyun did not.

"I bet she liked to garden too then. What color are they?"

Sehun looked shyly at him, still confused that they were holding a real conversation, about his mother's rose garden no less. "Yellow."

"Ohhh. Yes, I bet they looked pretty. We'll make them that way again then."

Sehun hadn't actually agreed to the plan, but he found it nice this way. Baekhyun would do as he pleased, and for some reason that didn't really bother Sehun all that much. He smiled, the first genuine smile he'd ever really given to another hybrid whose name wasn't Tao. Baekhyun looked tickled. 

"Anyways, you don't have to stand out here chatting with me. You're welcome to wait in the house, or else go over to Joonmyun's."

"Are... are they going to be there long?"

Baekhyun shrugged. "Dunno. However long as they want to harass Kyungsoo for. I'm up for anything." He grinned evilly and Sehun had to wonder, privately, why Baekhyun wasn't also over there. "Pretty cute though."

"What?"

"You're a fellow for short, one-word questions tonight," Baekhyun laughed. "I said Joonmyun and Kyungsoo: they're cute. Good for them."

"Oh. I suppose so." Sehun hadn't really thought about them all that much. He was still technically thinking about Tao. 

"So sweet, isn't it..." Baekhyun was almost drawling, scathingly joking. "That even though they're still kind of clueless about each other, they finally get their time. Their prize. All of us have our season in life, Sehun..." He smiled and rolled over on his back, one arm behind his head and the other one fidgeted underneath his backside until he managed to fit his tail through a custom-made hole in the hammock netting. It finally trailed atop the grass beneath, and he sighed happily having accomplished that. He rested both arms behind his head and turned to look at Sehun. "Make sure to use yours wisely."

Sehun was going to respond, was still trying to choose and fit words into his mouth - although he was failing greatly - when they were interrupted by a tall, lanky human who was almost always around.

"Sehun," said the man by way of acknowledgement.

"Chanyeol!" Baekhyun yelled, before Sehun could respond. "Back from the moving-in celebration party? How is it over there? Was it suffocating? You know, I'm not sure I approve of this hammock. Are you sure this hole in the net is going to work? I feel like it may tear at any minute and then I'll fall through, butt first." 

Chanyeol laughed. "It's fine. Your butt isn't going anywhere in that thing," he promised.

"Oh, isn't it now? That's vaguely disappointing. No, anyways. How was the party? Is it over? Sehun is waiting madly for his lover-cat to come home."

Sehun blushed. Chanyeol patted him on the shoulder but fortunately didn't continue the teasing where Baekhyun left off.

"They'll probably be back soon. It's less of a party anyways than it is an 'Embarrass Joonmyun and Enrage Kyungsoo' showdown. I helped." He grinned brightly. "Also I measured the wall space in his new bedroom. Joonmyun wants to get him a giant new computer desk. I'm supposed to build it for him."

"What a sucker," said Baekhyun. He hummed to himself, rocking gently side to side in his make-shift swing. 

All three of them were silent for a few moments. Baekhyun had his eyes closed, and Chanyeol just looked around the yard as if noting all the things he could do or might soon be asked to take care of. His hand on Sehun's shoulder hadn't moved though, and so Sehun could only stand there awkwardly. Finally, he moved it, Chanyeol's fingers digging into his shirt and he turned to look at him again. 

"Sehun, I uhm... well, I heard..." 

He didn't have to finish the sentence. Sehun already knew what he was going to say. Everyone would know by now, about his mother.

"That's...okay. I mean, thanks."

It was probably a stupid reply, but he _was_ grateful for Chanyeol's consideration. He was just never good at expressing such things. It seemed Chanyeol knew what he meant to say though too. 

"Anyways, Tao will be by soon. You... he'll be happy to see you too, I imagine."

"Mushyyy loooove," sang Baekhyun out of nowhere. He still had his eyes closed, so Sehun had no way of properly glowering at him.

 

 

Tao and Jongdae were the last two to leave the gathering at Joonmyun's (and now Kyungsoo's) house. Kai had skipped out shortly after Chanyeol, too fed up with the idea of the hybrid now living with the human, although he displayed no particular malice at this event. 

"He's just jealous," Jongdae joked. "People being happy. He doesn't know how to deal with that sort of thing." 

It was a light statement to make about the hybrid, but both Tao and Jongdae knew just how much deeper Kai's feelings went. It was fortunate they had anything to joke about in the first place, and so they enjoyed it. 

"You know, I never thought Kyungsoo would just... do that," said Tao.

Jongdae's face immediately turned from gleeful to pouty. He'd been doing that all day, all night. 

Tao laughed at him. "You'd think he was dead or something, the way you keep acting. What, did you have a secret crush on him after all?"

Jongdae scoffed. "Hah. No, nothing like that. It's just... well I liked how my life was going. I liked our home life. I don't like it when things change. Next thing you know, you'll be leaving me, and I'll be the kitten again." He screwed up his face into one of distaste before undoing the wrinkles and smiling.

"What? Where would I go?" Tao genuinely asked.

"Oh please, don't give me that," Jongdae chortled. He wrapped one arm around Tao's shoulders, playfully clipping their tails together as they walked down the sidewalk. "Do you really think you're going to live here for the rest of your life? That Sehun's just going to keep visiting here and won't whisk you away from us one day?"

Tao blushed, and even flinched when he felt Jongdae's head come down to rest on his shoulder. It had to be uncomfortable since they were still on the move between houses, but Jongdae didn't act like it did. He looked like he was trying to worm his way so far into Tao's life that Tao would never be able to dislodge him. Both giggled a little for the rest of the short walk. Until they approached their house and Sehun was just coming out of their own front door.

"Oops!" cried Jongdae when Sehun got his first glimpse of the practically intertwined hybrids. 

Tao decided now was not the moment to panic. It wasn't like he was cheating or anything! Jongdae was just... Jongdae. They'd slept beside each other in far more intimate positions, but something in Sehun's face told Tao that Sehun was probably considering that right now. Jongdae slithered out of his self-imposed grip and winked at the boy before he went in the house alone. Sehun had to visibly breathe for a second or two before he was okay, and he looked so cute doing so that Tao couldn't help it. He walked right up to him, and hugged him close. 

Sehun was startled, but only for a moment. Then his arms reciprocated and he pulled Tao even closer and nuzzled his chin to his neck. 

"Did you miss me?" Tao was forward enough to ask.

"Mm," came Sehun's short but sufficient answer. "How was... I heard you were at Joonmyun's house."

"Yes." Tao pulled away. He took a few steps back, dragging Sehun with him, and sat down on one of the steps of the porch. The human joined him there, knees sticking up high as he tried to get himself comfortable. "It's kind of weird, but I guess it's fine," he said.

"What's weird about it?" asked Sehun.

"Kyungsoo. He acts like nothing is different. Like he just happens to have a new bedroom and that's it." Tao frowned. "Jongdae told me Joonmyun's been in love with him for years, but all this time Kyungsoo has just wanted an owner, and now Jongdae isn't really sure if they have discussed this well enough. I think he's really worried about this, about them."

"He looked really worried just now," Sehun remarked sarcastically.

Tao elbowed him, and not lightly.

"Ow!"

"No one says anything mean about Jongdae in my presence. That's a rule." Tao was determined to make this rule stick.

"Okay. Fine, fine," Sehun muttered unhappily. 

"Anyways, what have you been doing before I got here?" Tao asked.

He wasn't really prepared for Sehun's answer about how he had talked with Baekhyun for a little while, and then Chanyeol, and then even Kai. The other hybrid had apparently even apologized to him officially, and they were now best friends. Sehun said the last two words with even more sarcasm, but there was relief in his eyes nevertheless, especially because Tao looked proud of him.

"Thank you."

"For what?" Sehun looked confused.

Tao wouldn't say it again. After all, Sehun didn't need to hear _only_ praise this day. Not when he'd made just a minuscule bit of progress getting to know the other cats. 

"See you tomorrow?" he said instead. 

"Yes. Can I take you out again?"

"Hmmm, perhaps. As long as you don't keep me out too late," Tao said with a yawn. 

"Sleepy already? It's barely nine." 

"I'm always sleepy, don't you know."

"Mmm, yes, a first class bum, you are," said Sehun fondly. He snuck a hand around Tao's lower back, and with his other hand he reached across Tao's forehead to pet at his hairline. Tao almost started purring then and there. He held himself steady though, content to rest in silence and lean against Sehun. Minutes went by without them actually speaking. Instead they sat together and listened to the street life, cars driving along another road, dogs barking in the distance, Kai yelling from inside the house. It didn't sound that serious. 

By the time even Sehun was yawning, Tao purred into his shoulder and gave it a nudge. The human smiled at the attention, even if he was nodding off into sleep. Or boredom. Tao hoped it was just the first one. 

Another minute passed before Tao spoke again. "Sehun, are we... dating?"

"Aren't we?" Sehun lifted his head.

Tao sniffed. "Don't play games," he said softly. "It's a yes or no question."

He waited without looking at Sehun, until he heard the human say, "Yes. We are. Is that... okay?"

"Yes, it is okay."

"Okay then."

 

 

When Tao left him finally to go inside, he found the house in a subdued state, mostly because Kai was furious at Jongdae for trying to persuade him to change rooms all of a sudden.

"He basically sleeps in there all alone since Baekhyun prefers the outside," Jongdae began complaining to him hotly. "And we have an extra bed now and nobody to fill it. Why shouldn't he come sleep with us!?"

Tao really didn't want to get in the middle of this one. Then again, if Jongdae was already insisting that someday Tao would be gone just like Kyungsoo, he almost couldn't fault Jongdae for wanting to acquire another cuddle buddy before that happened. Kai didn't seem to have the foresight to agree. He kept stubbornly insisting that he liked being by himself, and when Jongdae tried to overturn the hybrid onto the floor by pulling at his sheets, that was the howl Tao and Sehun had heard from outside.

"Leave me alone." Kai was still resisting when Tao tried to go to bed. "Or if Tao's not enough for you right now, go sleep with Luhan and Minseok."

Jongdae paused, as if considering this a halfway decent idea. They were all in the upstairs hallway except for Baekhyun who was downstairs, and the two oldest who were in their room. Until Minseok poked his head out of the door, looking sleepy but concerned. Tao guessed he'd heard all of their arguments and was coming out to mediate. 

Instead he said, "Probably not a good idea actually. I think... well I thought he was acting a little funny earlier, but I just took his temperature and, I think Luhan is sick."

 

{Into the Factory}

 

 

When morning came around, the house was in chaos. Luhan knew this because, he was the cause of it. His fever had gone up and down throughout the night and by morning he realized he was miserable, and everybody should be informed that he was miserable. Burning up and sweating profusely, Luhan howled and howled and not even Minseok’s presence by his side could settle him down.

It got even worse when Minseok, sighing, informed him that if he was going to continue being a baby, they had no other choice but to take him to the doctor. 

“What!? No!!” Luhan raged even louder. 

“Luhan, you’re ill. You need to go.” 

Usually Minseok’s gentle patience and aura of wisdom was a calming factor in Luhan’s life, but not today.

“I am not going to the vet! You can’t make me!” 

“I can. And I will,” Minseok threatened. 

Luhan had nightmares about the vet, ever since the first month he arrived at the shelter home. Minseok had gotten sick, and Yixing had taken him away. A whole week Minseok was gone and Luhan felt like death himself because he wasn’t allowed to visit him — something about being contagious — and Luhan was so worried and stressed because, he’d just found Minseok. He wasn’t about to let go of him so soon.

“It’s not a ‘vet,’” Jongdae tried to inform him when Minseok briefly left the room. “It’s a regular doctor just like a human doctor. He’s just a hybrid specialist.”

“I don’t care. I’m not going,” Luhan continued to pout.

Apparently his self-made decision had no bearing over the rest of the household. By the time Minseok sneaked back into their room and Jongdae slipped away, Yixing had already been informed, and Chanyeol was on his way. Luhan was halfway into a fever-induced sleep again, but he was definitely not drowsy enough to ignore Minseok’s presence. The older cat snuggled his way into the sheets, careful to leave some room between their bodies so Luhan wouldn’t overheat, and there they waited. 

“I don’t want to go,” Luhan repeated sleepily after a while. He wouldn’t even open his eyes, terrified that if he did time would get away from him. He wanted to hold onto this moment forever. 

“You, baby,” Minseok chided fondly. “I’ll go with you. You don’t have to worry.”

“Really? You’ll come with me?”

“That’s what I said, yes.” Minseok chuckled, burying his nose into Luhan’s neck to reassure him. 

At some point even Tao came in, and the kitten looked so concerned and worried about him that Luhan determined to pull himself together and look strong. That was easier now that he knew Minseok wasn’t abandoning him. 

“Look, Baekhyun even made you some tea,” he heard Minseok purr into his ear. “Sit up for a bit, hmm?”

Luhan consented to drink the warm, relaxing liquid and had just drained it when Chanyeol arrived. 

“Are we going now?” he asked pitifully, one last time, as if by asking it so miserably Luhan could persuade them to leave him home. 

“Yes, come on now,” said Minseok so sweetly that Luhan didn’t fight it any longer. He heard Chanyeol asking some basic questions about how he was, and then somebody — Chanyeol — was lifting him out of the bed. Around them Minseok fussed, begging the tall human to watch Luhan’s head on the door frame, and tucking his tail up over his waist. Luhan curled into the warm body holding him and promised to thank Minseok later. Chanyeol always kind of scared him, if only because it seemed like the man couldn’t possibly be graceful enough to carry someone of his weight without tripping or something equally embarrassing. What if he dropped him?

He needn’t have worried though. Chanyeol carried him down the stairs very delicately. Luhan felt like a princess, if only he wasn’t still burning up and miserable. He managed one regal wave of his hand to the other concerned housemates, Baekhyun, Tao, Kai and Jongdae all standing in a row in the entryway, and then one of them opened the door and _Luhan freaked out._

Later on Luhan would claim it was only because the sunlight startled him. He wasn’t sure anyone believed him, but by all means, he would stick to his story.

Truthfully, and Minseok probably already knew this, it was because Luhan never went outside, not through the front door anyway. The backyard was fine because it was fenced in and pretty and the patio was a peaceful extension to their house. The front yard though... out yonder lay the world. Specifically the street and other houses and people, and Luhan was so unused to it that he’d almost forgotten it existed.

He cried, started kicking and screaming in Chanyeol’s arms that the man almost _did_ drop him, which freaked Luhan out even more. Somehow, in all the time he’d spent upstairs coming to terms with his imminent doctor visit, he’d forgotten that going outside meant just that… going outside.

“Luhan! It’s alright!” came Minseok’s rushed cries of concern. To Chanyeol he heard him instruct to continue walking. Luhan remembered some inkling about how Minseok didn’t like going outside much either, but he was too much at death’s door to really notice.

“Hey, now. We’re almost there,” said Chanyeol assuredly while Luhan alternated thrashing about and nuzzling deeper into his chest. 

Minseok opened the car door and slipped into the backseat first. Chanyeol deposited Luhan right into his lap, saw that the two were buckled up – more howling from Luhan’s part because that required him to move more – but eventually they were settled and Minseok was holding him close, and Chanyeol started the car with a heavy sigh. As they drove off Luhan refused to look out the window. He hunkered down, clawed Minseok accidentally, and finally just buried his head and shut his eyes. It would all be over soon, he hoped.

 

 

Inside the house, everyone left behind breathed a collective sigh of relief. Tao’s was the loudest of all.

“If you can’t tell,” said Baekhyun after a minute, “Luhan hasn’t stepped foot outside of this house since the day he got here.”

Tao didn’t speak, although his eyes did grow wide at the thought. Perhaps the outdoors had been so much a part of his life growing up, but Tao could not imagine a time when he was actually scared of it. Even strangers and the weird faces they made at him was a recent discovery, but while it was disturbing, it didn’t bother him as much as it did others, namely Sehun. His boyfriend – Tao had to breathe again just thinking about the term – got upset enough for the both of them. It was cute, although Tao didn’t tell him that.

“Will he be alright?” he asked instead, still worried about Luhan.

“Sure he will,” said Baekhyun. “He’s just a baby. He never gets sick, so when he does he blows it out of proportion. Poor Minseok though. I pity him because that is going to be one hell of a car trip and visit.” He scampered off still chuckling.

Jongdae pat Sehun suddenly on the shoulder. He didn’t speak either, just smiled reassuringly at Tao and then asked him about his plans for the day. Tao didn’t have any. He did sort of want to see Sehun, but Sehun had school and classes to go to first. Perhaps he’d just follow Baekhyun outside until the evening. Or go over and bug Kyungsoo in the other house. Or maybe he and Jongdae could hold a movie day? Maybe he could persuade Kyungsoo to host a movie day? Surely Joonmyun wouldn’t mind so much if the hybrids crashed his house again. It was still very cozy over there, and Joonmyun had a real cat, whose mannerisms fascinated Tao so much. Before, there had only been a smattering of outdoor barn cats who weren't all that friendly towards Tao.

He settled for walking Kai to work first. Since their heart-to-heart a few days ago he had done this every day and Kai no longer fussed at him for getting into his personal space. Even better was that Kai had stopped covering his ears with a beanie, and when he had suitable clean laundry he even wore his tail out. The white furs clashed nicely with Tao’s black fur, and it became easier to ignore the looks from random neighbors and passers-by, either pedestrians or drivers.

Before he left him at the front of his building, Kai turned to him. “Hey, don’t worry about coming to pick me up. I’ve got some… errands I want to do after work and Ilhoon is going to drive me. He’ll drop me off.”

“Oh? Okay…” Tao mused, curious about the nature of these errands, and disappointed because he liked his twice daily walks. They split up his day nicely into manageable segments between fun and naps.

“Yeah. And also, uhmm… in case you forgot, or rather, in case you didn’t think much about it. You’re… still invited out to my work party this weekend? The girls asked me to remind you even though I said you were—”

Kai blushed slightly.

“You said I was…?” Tao prompted, ears twitching because embarrassed Kai was adorable.

“That you were _taken?_ ” Kai finally managed. “Anyways, Sehun can come to. The more the merrier and… all that…” He trailed off, embarrassed again, and before Tao could say yes, no, or tease him, Tao caught him muttering something like, “I just don’t want to be the only hybrid there…”

“I’ll ask Sehun, but probably, definitely yes. How’s that?”

Kai looked more than happy. “Yes! That’s great. Okay, thank you!” He bounded into the building right on time, and Tao turned around, heading for home.

 

 

Yixing was sitting in their kitchen by the time Tao there. He and Jongdae were discussing Luhan and the disastrous transplant from bedroom to car. They finished laughing when Tao walked in, and Yixing turned to him, still smiling but suddenly looking a little more serious.

“Ahh, Tao. Just who I was looking for. How was your walk with Kai this morning?”

“It was… good…?” Tao answered, confused. The fact that Yixing was here to talk to him personally was a little unsettling.

“That’s great. Absolutely great,” said Yixing slowly, stalling for time.

Jongdae seemed to pick up on the mood. “Should I give you two some time to yourselves?”

“Oh, would you?” Yixing pleaded apologetically. “I mean, I don’t mean to run you off but…” he hesitated and Jongdae bowed out of the room far from being offended. In fact he even winked at Tao like he had something to be worrying about, and since Tao was sitting down with Sehun’s father, he did worry about it.

Apparently though it was nothing related to Sehun at all.

“Tao, my boy. I do hate asking this of you, but I rather need a favor and… well, would you mind going with me somewhere this afternoon? I went once yesterday, but I'm in need of an assistant today...”

“Uhm,” Tao gulped. “Sure? If… if it will help you?”

“It would. Greatly actually.” Yixing smiled in what the man surely thought was the most reassuring smile he owned, and yet it frightened Tao. 

 

 

The compound they drove up to was dark, industrial, surrounded by fences with barbed wire skirting the top most rims. Yixing drove up to the gatekeeper in a tiny building situated right along the road, rolled down the window and handed the man his ID and a small stack of papers, documents that were signed and approved and would allow them entry to a place Tao had only heard mentioned of in deep, dark whispers. The sign on a small placard along the driveway read:

  
**Sooman Corporation**

Hybrid Animal Specialists

~ NO ENTRY EXCEPT TO AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ~  


The breeding factory. It was situated on the outskirts of one of the outer most suburbs of town. On its own it was unobtrusive to the landscape and community, except its reputation preceded it. As they drove up Tao wouldn’t imagine that inside these walls was essentially a slave labor force of abandoned or un-adopted hybrids living in worse conditions probably than the adoption agencies.

“It’s done mostly by artificial insemination,” Yixing had explained before they got here. “There’s very little personal interaction between the hybrids. Just between them and their handlers. A very grim place, I’m warning you now. Just stick beside me, and don’t mind the things I say. We’re play-acting today, alright? Only it’s not really for play.”

Tao didn't need to be told that twice. 

“The kittens don’t live here for long,” Yixing had also explained earlier. “They spend about two months with their mothers, and then they’re taken away. Matched up by gender and compatibility into larger ‘litters’ and then literally shipped by the bundle to agencies across the country.”

“How many… breeding factories are there?” Tao still had trouble saying the word without getting the shivers.

“In our part of the world? Only three. This is the largest one, and compared to the others it’s massive, and worse. Still though, only three factories, but then there are dozens and dozens of agencies and it all bleeds together. This is the side the public doesn't see when they walk into those cute hybrid pet store front windows.”

He parked the car and Tao unbuckled slowly, almost unwillingly. Yixing paused, waited for a moment, and finally asked him, “Are you sure you’re okay to go in? You don’t have to do this, you know that.”

But Tao only nodded, steeling his face, and he climbed out of the car. “So,” he repeated for perhaps the third time so far, “We’re here… to look for my sister.”

“Correct,” said Yixing under his breath. “And to keep our eyes open. Alright now, to work.”

He lead them up the sidewalk to an unassuming door, another checkpoint where Yixing provided his documents and explained once again that he was here on behalf of an important somebody looking for specific hybrid siblings. The staff evidently knew he was coming and they beckoned him through, nearly challenging Tao’s entry until Yixing explained Tao was his pet companion and here was the paperwork on him too. 

Tao kept his eyes downward and tried not to flinch that Yixing’s papers on him probably weren’t actually doctored. Yixing undeniably had documentation for all of the shelter hybrids. In some peoples’ eyes, Yixing literally owned them all. 

The security staff verified the papers, and then let them through. Another personnel member fetched them shortly thereafter and walked them to a wing of only offices. 

“In here, sir, and the manager will be in shortly to meet with you.”

“Thank you,” said Yixing pleasantly, and the two of them took a seat. 

As if to keep them waiting as long as possible, it took the manager nearly twenty minutes to greet them. The name plate on his desk read Moon H. J. Based on his roll as manager of the entire factory,Tao expected him to be older. Instead, a man in his late thirties with a very round face entered and greeted Yixing like an old friend. Tao could tell they were not. The man’s smile was very clipped and rather sardonic, as if his grim pleasantry could wipe away the fact that Yixing was now seated comfortably in his office, probably to rob them of a good breeder or two. 

“Mr. Zhang,” said the man, finally sitting down. “How nice to see you again.”

“You said you would have some information for me today, Mr. Moon,” Yixing replied carefully.

The manager seemed to consider him for a moment. Only then did he notice the hybrid sitting beside him. Tao hadn’t even been worthy of consideration just a second before. “Oh, I see you brought a pet today?”

“This is Tao. He’s one of the siblings I’m collecting for our mutual benefactor. This one I’ve already acquired up front at my own expense. However, the others… if you perhaps have one of them, will be paid for directly.”

Mr. Moon’s eyes lit up, not over Tao’s presence, but at the promise of money. He stifled a greedy smile, however, and observed the hybrid. “I see. Such a shame though you won’t be able to keep this one. He's certainly very beautiful. Great genes too, I'm sure. No collar yet? Even if he’s yours temporarily, surely you wouldn’t want him to get loose somewhere without your name on him?”

Yixing chuckled amusedly. “An unfortunate case, but the collar I bought him had some chemical of which he was allergic to. I’m still waiting for a replacement one to arrive. In the meantime, he’s docile as you can see. And should be a great help when and if we find one of his sisters.”

Tao tried to act dumb. It was all part of the game Yixing had prepared him for, though it still kind of hurt to be discussed so flippantly. He smiled and nodded at Yixing’s words, eyes kept mostly lowered. 

“I see,” said the man. He then turned to a stack of papers on his desk and began pulling them apart. 

It took them another half an hour to sort through the documents, complicated charts and genealogies, most of which Mr. Moon refused to actually show Yixing. He spent a lot of time on his own reading through them while Yixing and Tao waited silently, every now and then posing a name out loud for Yixing to consider before shaking his head and undoing his own research just a few lines down.

“Apologies of course, because these particular files are quite old. My predecessors didn’t document things as well as what our computers do these days.”

By all that Tao could understand from the half-snippets of their conversation, all of the hybrids born to a certain mother had been delivered in this factory upwards of twenty years ago. One by one they were separated and sent to agencies, passed around to other agencies, sent to homes, or been returned. The paper trail though was evidently hard to follow and it was further complicated by the lack of proper DNA records. 

Mr. Moon ended their session with a promise to hook Yixing up with several of the distributing agencies, “But… as I think we can properly determine, we do have one of your girls back with us here.”

“Is there any reason you can give us for that? Did she ever live with a family? Was she not returned to an agency first before returning here?” Yixing asked.

The question flustered Mr. Moon but he had no verbal answer, or maybe none of those reports were actually worth documenting. Tao suspected he may not want to even hear one. Listening to the men discuss so casually the movements and ‘shipments’ of hybrids, both kitten and adult, was starting to make Tao’s stomach lurch. But now that the one girl had been discovered, the manager started in on another search for a different litter. There were several such sets, all of them time-consuming since Yixing had come in with a batch of requests. Fortunately, two more of them were probably here as well.

“I'd like to meet them now,” Yixing said.

“All of them?” Mr. Moon did not seem to suspect this.

“If you wouldn't mind. Their... future owners are rather picky people. They'd like a report on the hybrids' health and mental capabilities if they're to own them. And, since they'll be paying so much money to take them right from here, you can understand how they would like to _know_ what they are getting?” Yixing coaxed.

“Of course. Of course," replied Mr. Moon quickly. "I'm sure... they'll all be to your — and the owners' — satisfaction, but of course I can understand. Of course...”

“I can negotiate purchase agreements by the weekend. It would help if we can visit with them today while we are in the area.” Yixing kept on pushing. 

“Certainly. Let me call for a guide and he can... take you to see them.”

They waited politely in the hallway outside his office, waiting to be fetched. Yixing placed one hand behind Tao’s back to reassure him of their work, and because Tao looked a little faint. First and foremost their goal was a purchase to rescue at least this handful of hybrids. Yixing wasn't the only such activist willing to set aside his own money for a hybrid's sake. The main reason he wanted Tao with him on this day was because the hybrids would probably be skittish around any other human beings, himself included. Tao might be able to soothe a few ruffles quicker than Yixing could. 

“Are we even sure these are the right ones and he’s not lying to us?” Tao asked quietly.

“He won’t do that. Benefactors such as he’s being tempted with would undoubtedly do a DNA test to prove the relationship. He won’t risk getting caught on something like this.”

The second goal was to be the eyes and ears of those less fortunate than themselves, to take away everything they see and get that information into the hands of the public, lawmakers, any and all who could help them to eventually shut down the factory for good, and try to keep it that way.

“He didn't seem enthusiastic to let us back there.”

“No, he's probably not all that keen,” Yixing agreed. 

“Don't you think he's worried about us reporting what we see though?”

“I'm sure he is. But he probably doesn't think we can do anything with this information for a while yet, and he's just the acting manager. Hardly the CEO. I guarantee you he'll making a huge profit on these sales _and_ keep more than is his proper share. He's not too worried about the future just yet. And that, is our advantage.”

Shortly thereafter another man appeared and beckoned for them to follow. He seemed uncomfortable, like he wasn’t used to doing such things as allowing visitors to explore the compound. For every hesitant step he took, however, Yixing looked cautiously overjoyed, as he had every right to be, Tao thought. They were one step closer to exposing the horror of hybrid breeding factories, and that made Tao a little bit proud to be here. 

 

 

Hours later, Yixing drove them home. Sehun was waiting and so they skipped the shelter house entirely. Tao followed the older man inside and noticed that the rose garden had been weeded, not thoroughly pruned yet, but Baekhyun must have been by sometime during the day. Tao would have to thank him later. 

He found Sehun almost passed out in his bedroom. While Yixing stayed in the forward part of the house feeding the puppies, his son was conked out on his bed, arms and legs askew, his school bag not even opened and laying on the floor. 

Tao poked him. When that didn’t work he sat down almost on top of him. 

“What’s going on?” asked Sehun sleepily. He tried to move and found out he could not. Tao took pity and rolled off of his body into the space next to the wall. 

“Tao?” Sehun groaned again.

“I’m here,” said the hybrid with an exhausted sigh. 

“When did you get here?”

“Just now. Your dad brought me home.”

Sehun rolled over to look at him. “Why? Were you out with him today?”

“Yes.”

“All day?”

“Yes. Well, mostly all day. This morning I just sat around and then I walked with Kai to his work, and then I came home. Oh, Luhan is sick and he went to the clinic earlier with Minseok and Chanyeol, but Chanyeol called earlier and said he was fine. They’ll be home by now. I haven’t been back there yet though…” Tao rambled.

The whole time he spoke Sehun didn’t cease to blink, confused. “You… you were with my dad all day?”

“Yes…” .

“But— but, he said he was going to the-the-the…”

“Breeding factory. Yes. We went there,” said Tao slowly.

Sehun’s eyes widened, almost panicked for Tao’s sake. It might have been funny had not Tao been so emotionally worn out. Sehun must have realized this too because without saying anything he drew the hybrid into his arms. And perhaps that gesture was such a wondrous thing compared to all he’d seen that day, but it was almost like a damn broke inside him. Without warning tears began to fall from his eyes, hidden at first from Sehun’s gaze, but the sniffles that came after could not be concealed. Sehun just held him tighter.

Pictures of the factory filtered through his mind, everything he’d seen, so clearly, so clinically. The cell-like chambers, hardly larger than prison barracks. The hospital-style beds behind curtains that were unable to hide them completely. The more they saw, the more hybrids they encountered, each so hollow around the eyes, skinny around the body, zombie-like creatures who were so desensitized they barely even cared to see another hybrid walking around without a collar. The ones he’d talked to, touched, they answered so impersonally, responded only in short word answers. 

“I’m Tao… how are you… would you like to go live somewhere else… somewhere much, much nicer than this place… there are other places, better places… where you can live… just give us a few days… okay?”

“Okay…”

Sehun’s arms felt reassuring. It was the best feeling he’d felt all day, and because it was Sehun and he of course knew plenty about the factory already, Tao didn’t have to explain it to him. He didn’t have to relate everything he saw.

“Why did he take you with him?” Sehun asked finally, when Tao’s tears were dry.

“There were some hybrids he wanted me to meet. One in particular. She… she will probably come live with us, if your dad can get her released.”

“Who?” Sehun asked.

It was the same question Tao had asked. In the last room they were allowed to visit, their guide seemed doubly nervous. 

“This is his sister,” answered Yixing. “The girl I’ve been looking for in particular.”

She was a beautiful hybrid, or at least she probably was once. No older than twenty-three, with long dark hair tied sloppily into a braid. When they opened the door Tao saw that she had a nicer room than the others they’d met previously. And then he saw why. She was holding a baby, her first kitten the guide had said. And if everything proceeded normally, the child was due to be taken from her in just about a week’s time. 

_“Oh no,”_ Yixing had said. _“I want them both.”_

She looked suspicious of them, eyes darting between Yixing and Tao, more scared of the man than the hybrid, just as they’d prepared for. 

_“Go along,”_ Yixing coaxed Tao. _“Go on and speak to her. I’m going to step outside, right on the other side of the window, okay?”_

Tao had approached her. He sat down on a chair and made no move to touch her or the child. She was cradling the baby close to her chest, still obviously questioning his motives. 

_“My name’s Tao.”_ he began. _“I’m a free hybrid. I live in a house with half a dozen other hybrids, all older than me. We… we want you to come and live with us. You and the baby.”_

_“Why?”_ she whispered.

_“Because… because we believe you’re actually a sister, a real blood-related sister, to one of my friends. I think, he’ll want to meet you.”_  
  
It had taken her a long time afterwards to comment, even longer to believe even half of what Tao said. Perhaps she wouldn’t believe it officially until they took her out of this place, but the tiny window of hope Tao saw forming in her eyes was more than inspiring. 

“ _And we can both come? Me and my baby?_ ” She almost wept when Tao nodded yes. “ _Okay… okay… I will… look forward to that… Thank you, Tao? My name is Victoria.”_

 

{Which Cat, Which Human Is Yours?}

 

 

Tao stayed the night that day. It wasn't technically the first time, but it was the first time he turned into a total cuddle monster. When he opened his eyes, Tao found himself practically halfway on top of his sleeping boyfriend. He had one arm wrapped around his stomach, the other wedged beneath Sehun's shoulder blade, his head resting heavily on his chest. With this view he could only pick out the bottom edge of Sehun's chin, his full profile when he lifted his head. Tao stifled a yawn, more concerned about his current position than the fact he evidently passed out like this, tucked in between Sehun's arms, body, and legs. Tao froze when he realized how precariously they were entangled, tail and all.

“You awake?” came a groggy voice. Sehun was apparently not still asleep. 

Tao blushed, hoping Sehun couldn't see it, and he burrowed his face back under the human's chin. 

“No,” he whined.

Sehun laughed, a low rumble that comforted Tao even as he was being made fun of. “Fine... pretend you're still asleep. I don't mind it,” he said.

“How long have you been awake?” Tao asked. He was very conscious of the fact that his leg was wedged right between Sehun's own, and he was too afraid to move it. On the other hand, he was starting to sweat from the embarrassment.

“A little while,” Sehun answered. He raised one of his hands and began stroking along on the base of Tao's unburied, pointed furry ear. Tao purred almost instantly. A few soft scratches was enough to make him hum and turn completely lax. He was enjoying it when Sehun added, “Long enough to know that you do that when you sleep.”

Tao held his breath, purring coming to an immediate, embarrassed end. “Do what?” Like he didn't know.

“Purr. Turn cuddly... For a while you were even making biscuits with your hands and my shirt. It was cute.”

If Tao could bury himself any deeper in the bed, he would have done so. He rolled away, ashamed of his actions but Sehun caught him quickly and started peppering his forehead with light kisses. Tao groaned and tried to get away, but only because he didn't want to be babied. It had nothing to do with wanting to get away from Sehun's kisses, something his boyfriend was frustratingly aware of. 

“Quit complaining. I said you were cute,” Sehun insisted. “Next time maybe you should do that on my back though. Would be a great massage.”

“You're making fun of me,” said Tao, still hazy from just waking up. 

“I'm not,” said Sehun softly. “I love it when you get this way.”

This time Tao was on his back with Sehun rolled on his side next to him, and the kisses came back again with a vengeance before Tao could even respond. One on his temples, two on his cheek, a few more working their way down the bridge of nose. Sehun cupped his head with his hand rubbed another finger up and down his ear while his lips burned lightly on his skin. Tao's whole body became relaxed again, although he didn't care start purring again, on principal. 

He almost forgot that a second later when Sehun's lips found his lips and the chaste little kisses turned heavier, insistent, as if Sehun was indignant because Tao was refusing to react. He'd found himself kissing a close-lipped mouth with a smile from ear to ear, proof that Tao wasn't immune, nor did he want it to stop. He clenched his eyes shut, blinked them open once to see an equally blissed-out Sehun, and shut them again, just about ready to part his lips for further exploration when...

“Boys!” There was a loud rapping sound from outside their door. “Boys! Time for breakfast! Who's hungry?”

Sehun groaned and rolled over, one agonized word whispered upon his frustrated tongue and it sounded a whole lot like, “ _Daaaadddd_ ,” in the whiniest voice Tao had ever heard. It made him laugh, which made Sehun laugh, and they were halfway back to giggling territory when Yixing's voice roared joyfully down the hall again. 

“Waffles and eggs and bacon! Hurry up before I eat them all!”

 

 

Saturday couldn't come quickly enough for Tao, especially after all the hours he spent listening to Kai fret and worry about not wanting to go to his work party in the first place. Kai chickened out three times on Thursday alone, once on Friday, and again all day on Saturday. Tao, now completely confident that Kai was stressing for no reason, let him fret but alternated each occasion with kind sympathies and cheering speeches. He also stole the new device Kai purchased for himself, not because Tao was evil or jealous, but because Kai would use it to cancel his reservation completely.

It was a cell phone. With the earnings from his job, Kai had gotten himself a cell phone. Tao looked it over Thursday morning for hours, demanding to be taught how it worked, and Kai patiently explained to him everything the salespeople had taught him, and Ilhoon as well. His boss had deemed it pertinent that he should be able to contact his employee directly, and thus began the splurge. 

The best part was that Kai came home with two matching phones, one for himself and one for:

“Tao... since you have a boyfriend now, you should... have a cell phone...” Kai flushed deeply at Tao's shocked expression.

“You bought me a phone?” he cried, nearly jumping off the couch in his excitement. 

“It's for... when you're out and, if you need it, and because you know... safety, if you ever have to call someone, like me! Or... Sehun, I guess.”

“You bought me a phone!” Tao continued crying on repeat. “You got me so jealous over your new phone and then you wait and bring this out later!? Was this that secret errand you wouldn't tell me about?!”

Kai continued to blush and look embarrassed and he staunchly refused all other explanations from the other hybrids about why he only bought one for Tao and not the rest. Jongdae was pretty impressed by him though, and Minseok clapped him on the back and said, “Good job, for taking care of our kitten.” After they quit pestering him and Tao had calmed down, he taught him how to program his number into it, adding the house phone, Yixing's cell and house phone, Junmyeon's (and now Kyungsoo's), and when Sehun came by later in the day, he added his as well. The next time Kai tried to sneak away to call or text his apologies (his lies) about not being able to attend the party, Tao knew enough about how it worked to steal the phone from him and change the pass code. 

“You are _not_ canceling,” Tao told Kai defiantly. “ _I_ want to go, and _you_ have to be there to invite me.”

Sehun was only mildly petulant about Tao's new present, but he got over it soon enough when Tao began using it to text him every little thing that happened when they weren't together, and sometimes when they were. 

 

_Tao: aryu stil mad kaiboughtit for me anyou didnt?11!_

_Sehun: No I'm not mad_

_Tao: yousound mad'_

_Sehun: I said I'm not. Just wish I'd thought to buy one for you first_

_Sehun: （；￣д￣）_

_Tao: ho_

_Tao: how dyou maketht?_

_Tao: ahhhddd i how to even txtt??2_

_Tao: hate thiis phone_

_Sehun: You'll get better at it_

_Tao: ￣ε（∀＠）_

_Sehun: What??_

_Sehun: What is that supposed to be ??_

_Tao: kissy face but i failed_

_Sehun: ......._

_Tao: wait1 heregoes_

_Tao: （￣ε￣＠）_

_Sehun: Ahhh I see it now. Good job!_

_Tao: This is Kai actually. I just copied that in for him because he's a brat and was driving me crazy_

_Sehun: Thanks Kai... love you too_

__

 

 

Sehun drove them both to the restaurant and bar where Kai's company had booked a private room in the back. They arrived late because Sehun got lost, and when they entered the appetizers had just appeared around the table and drinks were flowing. All the girls flocked to Kai who was looking particularly good tonight thanks to Jongdae's expert styling. They noticed Tao next and more squeals were heard until Sehun cleared his throat and stepped up particularly close.

Introductions went all around the table as Tao and Sehun were introduced to the rest of the employees, some he'd seen and a few whose faces he barely recognized from his twice daily visits at opening and closing time. Then they found seats at the end of the table, Kai next to the Hyeri, and beside him Tao and Sehun, and the rest of the girls made up the other side of their corner. 

“So, Tao! This is your boyfriend?” asked Yura with a flounce, and Tao was happier than anything because she hadn't said 'owner'. Sehun confirmed it with a shy nod, and she was off talking again. “Oh wow, you're so lucky, Tao. Sometimes I wish I was born a hybrid. I've never seen one who wasn't beautiful. Have any of you?” she asked the other girls who all quickly agreed that hybrids were a beautiful species.  
_  
Probably because most are bred that way,_ Tao didn't remind her. He watched clandestinely how Kai interacted with his co-workers, talking to each of them in turn, failing to return most of the girls' flirtatious endeavors because he turned bright red instead. As he'd mentioned, some of the older employees still turned a halfway blind eye to the two hybrids in the room, but things were definitely friendlier among the younger crowd. It was a newer generation, Tao supposed, who were more used to seeing them around. The fact that Kai was a mostly functional, mostly independent cat among humans probably helped to change that perspective too. 

By the time the desserts came out, the atmosphere was completely loose and growing louder. Their waiters grew ever busier refilling drinks from the bar. Somebody had turned down the lights and cranked up the music, party tunes that Tao never listened to but Kai's colleagues apparently did. Sojin was the first to demand dancing, grabbing Minhyuk by the arm and positively dragging him up to the small area where the tables had already been cleared. Hyeri followed, pulling Kai unsteadily with her. 

At first, Tao and Sehun just watched them dance. A few more couples were shaped and formed and divided until half the dinner table was empty and only Tao's bobbing knee spoke of his desire to get up there too. By the time the music morphed into something resembling swing, and the dancers likewise, Tao was antsy.

“Want... to dance?” whispered Sehun in his ear. Tao cracked a large smile. 

“Can we?”

“Well, we can try.”

They didn’t start off very well coordinated. Tao stepped on his toes a couple of times, and the rhythm was off, and neither one of them could decide who should lead and that created more complications, all of which ended in laughter and more stubbed toes.

“You two are hopeless at this thing!” cried Yura shortly into the next song. “Here, let us help.” She and Minah split up the couple to try and teach them a few moves, and Tao only halfway protested when the latter pulled Sehun away from him to dance. At least it was constructive, having a girl in his arms who knew how to teach him where to put his feet and when to move and even a couple spins, but Tao kept craning his neck around to find Sehun and his frown grew and deepened each time he saw his boyfriend laughing with Minah pressed awfully close to his body.

He ducked out of the dance as quickly as was polite and made his way around the room to pick up Sehun. Kai was still being shuffled around from girl to girl, but Sehun was over by the bar breathing heavily into something that probably wasn’t juice or ice water. He’d also dumped his partner and he beamed in relief when Tao joined him.

“What are you drinking?” Tao hummed into his side. He spread his palm possessively around the back of Sehun’s hips, fingers sinking almost into the waistband as he reclaimed his man.

“Something. It’s good, whatever it is,” said Sehun, offering him a drink.

Tao squinched his nose and declined it. His boyfriend smelled like girl perfume, and even if Tao probably did too, he didn’t like it on Sehun one little bit. He focused instead on worming his way completely into Sehun’s embrace, his front to Sehun’s side, in and around the arm that was holding the drink. He wrapped two arms around his middle and burrowed his nose close to his ear, cheek to opposite cheek, and in the half light of the room and nobody paying them any attention, starting with an abrupt nudge, he rolled his body once, as languidly as he could.

Sehun froze, eyes suspicious.

“What?” asked Tao innocently.

“Did you just…”

“Did I just, what?”

“I swear…” Sehun paused and shook his head incredulously. “No, never mind.”

“What, Sehun? What did I do?” Tao continued to feint.

“You think you’re cute, don’t you?” Sehun squinted at him, smiling. “I swear though you just rubbed up on me like a cat marking its territory.”

“Mmmm,” Tao hummed into his cheek, laughing a little.

“You… you did, didn’t you? Oh my God. What? Why?”

Tao continued laughing, pulling away just a little as he took the drink from Sehun’s hand and swallowed down a sip. “Oh, just something I saw Joonmyun’s cat do once to him when Kyungsoo got too close. What? You don’t think I should learn from my mother species?”

Sehun looked appalled, then mesmerized. Then he laughed outright, still shaking his head but he took back his drink and gulped it down, and pulled Tao in for a real hug, the way humans hugged.

At the end of the next dance, Kai floundered off the dance floor next to them both, sweating profusely with a laughing Hyeri still on his tail, pulling his tail actually. Both were laughing and panting, Hyeri especially.

“What, you can’t already be so exhausted! That was only four dances!”

“Four dances, but I am tired, actually!” Kai proclaimed.

Hyeri giggled. “How old are you again? You’re barely twenty five!”

Between chugging a glass of real water, Kai smirked, forgetting something dangerously real when he laughed and said, “Yeah, and for me that’s well over middle aged, so…”

The smile on Hyeri’s face froze for a couple seconds, long enough for Kai to realize what he’d implied, and for Tao and Sehun both to stare at him slightly horrified. His face turned to stone, regret and fear all merged into one simple, upsetting truth.

“Oh. Oh that’s right,” Hyeri recovered quickly, although her expression never quite brightened up to its former delight. “I forget hybrids don’t live— I mean… that it’s a different for you… people.”

 

 

On Sunday morning Chanyeol arrived early at the shelter home, dressed casually and with no actual work errands to do. Today he was playing chauffeur again, and not handyman. The hybrids welcomed him in and fed him breakfast because Minseok was cooking porridge specifically for Luhan who was due for another post-illness check-up, and Minseok never cooked breakfast that couldn't feed at least a dozen starving hybrids or humans alike.

“How are things?” Chanyeol asked Kai who let him in the door.

“Nothing unordinary,” Kai replied with a raise of his eyebrows. He looked exhausted. Chanyeol figured they'd had a long night at the party, although he didn't know any details other than that Kai was starting to get out more, and that was good in Chanyeol's opinion. He also guessed Yixing hadn’t told them about their soon-to-be new roommates who were supposed to be arriving today or tomorrow, but until it was confirmed he decided he’d keep his mouth shut. 

“You here to take Luhan back to the vet?” Kai inquired.

“The _doctor_ , yes” Chanyeol amended.

“That’s cool. He’s not up yet. Neither are Jongdae and Tao for that matter. Although, I guess that doesn’t matter.” Kai shrugged. Then he smiled and seemed to want to laugh.

“What?” asked Chanyeol in his bass tone, never one to be left out of something funny.

“Hm? Oh nothing,” said Kai, still trying to contain a goofy smile.

“Come on, out with it.”

It took another minute of prompting before Kai would tell him casually about a funny scene from the night before when he and Tao arrived at home with Sehun: Jongdae throwing a fit because Tao hadn’t been spending much time at home, and if Sehun was allowed to monopolize his days and evenings, then at least Jongdae should get him at night.

“Lots of pouting. It was pretty funny.”

Chanyeol only smiled goofily.

“Anyways. Food?” Kai changed the subject. “Or you can see about waking that lump upstairs. Or just wait and get Minseok to do it, yeah… that would be easier. Oh. Chanyeol, by the way…”

He hesitated, and Chanyeol peered down at him. “Yeah?”

“Why don’t you… take Baekhyun too?”

“What?”

“He was complaining about being a tiny bit feverous yesterday? Nowhere near what Luhan was like a couple days ago. He just… won’t ask or say it, but I don’t think he was feeling all that great. You should take him too. Just a check-up.”

Chanyeol promised he would and when breakfast was over, he did just that. He had some time while Minseok persuaded Luhan to put on some clothes that weren’t three days old and highly aromatic, and since Baekhyun hadn’t come in for breakfast (“He made himself something before I was awake,” Minseok had said), Chanyeol wandered into the backyard to find him.

He found the hybrid curled up on the short square table in the middle of the patio, apparently asleep. He had a dirty, flower-print pillow under his head but no blanket and no socks, although his toes had retreated under his too long pant legs. He had at least bundled up in an overlarge hoody, his tail wrapped around his hip.

Baekhyun breathed softly when Chanyeol leaned over him and placed the back of his hand to the hybrid’s forehead. It was a little warm, but not alarmingly so. Kai was probably right though. He should make Baekhyun come with him, just to be safe.

He stayed there too long, hunched over the sleeping cat, eyes drifting to the tired, overly tense wrinkles in Baekhyun’s face, lines that were once there only because of laughter.

“What are you doing?” Baekhyun half-groaned, half-whispered. Chanyeol stood up immediately, although Baekhyun hadn’t opened his eyes yet.

“Y-You’re awake,” he stuttered. 

“’Course I am.” Baekhyun rolled onto his back, stretching out his arms and he yawned. “What are you doing out here?” Only then did he open his eyes and seem extra flustered, as if he hadn’t realized it was Chanyeol standing above him.

“Kai said you weren’t feeling well.” It was the only thing Chanyeol knew to say.

“And?” Baekhyun decided to finish yawn, and this time all his extremities, arms, legs and tail quivered from the intensity of his stretch.

“I’m taking Luhan back to the doctor. You should let me take you too. When was the last time you even had a check-up?”

“Been a few years, I think? I’m fine, Chanyeol.”

“So? Just come with us – it won’t take long. And also, you should get a blanket out here at least,” he fretted over the cat.

“Why? It’s not that cold out? The nights are pretty warm, Chanyeol.”

Chanyeol was actually shivering just a little bit, but there was no point telling that to Baekhyun. What had he always said? “ _I’m a cat. I’m tougher than you, human._ ”

Chanyeol was just grateful that Baekhyun didn’t put more of a fuss. He eventually relented and agreed to go and so, half an hour later, he was sitting in the passenger seat buckling himself in while Minseok fussed with Luhan in the back seat. Chanyeol got into the car only after they were done squabbling and when he reached up to adjust his rearview mirror (because Luhan’s head was blocking most of his view) he stretched out his neck, revealing a scratch mark which drew Baekhyun’s attention.

Cold fingertips grazed gently across the four-day old scar, and Chanyeol startled so much he nearly jumped and popped his head against the roof of the vehicle.

“What’s this?” Baekhyun asked, his fingers already retreating.

Chanyeol chuckled nervously and glanced behind them to the backseat. “Uhh, Luhan… accidentally scratched me a couple days ago…”

Baekhyun craned his head around and glared at the offender, who had frozen apologetically within Minseok’s hold.

“Luhan, really?” Baekhyun accused him with a naughty tone. Minseok clucked his tongue disapprovingly as well.

“I didn’t mean it! I’m sorry, Chanyeol,” the poor, sick hybrid replied with a whimper. “I thought you were going to drop me! I was scared.”

“Geez, Luhan. You’re such a cat,” said Baekhyun with a laugh. Chanyeol loved how the hybrids always insulted each other for being the same species as themselves. But then Baekhyun turned his attention back on him. “Did he get you anywhere else?”

Chanyeol cleared his throat. “Just… a few other places. They’re not deep though, don’t worry!” He wasn’t sure who he was trying to calm: Baekhyun, Luhan, or himself. His right hand unconsciously touched one of the places on his chest where he had another light, inch-long nail mark.

“Aww, he nicked your heart as well?” Baekhyun teased. He leaned across the seat as far as his seatbelt allowed and tried to find it through Chanyeol’s shirt. He squirmed, more than unusually ticklish and embarrassed, and for a half second he caught Minseok’s surprised expression in the mirror. Baekhyun acting playful with a human was a rare sight indeed.

Chanyeol froze, completely tense all of a sudden and in the same moment Baekhyun too realized what he was doing. He pulled away like he’d been shocked, laughed nervously as he sat upright and then immediately schooled his face to one of indifference. Chanyeol didn’t know what had just happened, but instead of pressing the issue, he started the car and drove them away.

 

 

An hour after that, Chanyeol sat next to Baekhyun in the waiting room of the clinic while Baekhyun waited for his name to be called. Minseok and Luhan had already gone in together, and Chanyeol was just grateful he didn’t have to carry him this time. The waiting area was a small little place with glass windows looking out onto a hallway, and a slightly larger room across the way with glass windows as well. On this side of the clinic were only a couple other hybrids and their owners, all cats looked tired and mildly sick. The other waiting room and doctor’s office was for humans, some elderly adults, a few sniffling kids with their harassed looking parents, a teenage girl with black hair and her face pressed sideways into the back of her chair. Chanyeol stared at her profile for lack of anything else to do. 

“This is so boring,” Baekhyun complained. He thumped his tail up and down in the space between their seated thighs and loudly counted tiles on the ceiling. Chanyeol flinched every time his furry tail came down, a slight whoosh of air gusting across his lap.

“I’m going for a walk,” the hybrid announced.

“Where to?” Chanyeol sat up a little straighter.

“Nowhere. Anywhere. I saw a water fountain around the corner. I’ll be back soon. Don’t let them take my place in line!”

He bounded out of the room and disappeared down the hallway a few seconds later. Chanyeol watched him go and then took over his place counting ceiling tiles. It was silent in the room, and lonely. The hybrid receptionist behind the counter shuffled papers across her desk, a human physician’s aid walked past behind her with all the indication that they were master and cat. The receptionist wore a collar and preened a little every time the man scratched her ears. A minute later they called upon one of the other hybrids in the waiting room, and then it was just Chanyeol sitting alone with an elderly female with a sickly looking girl hybrid whose head draped across her lap.

“Was that one yours?” she said when Chanyeol accidentally caught her eye.

“Who? Which one?”

“The boy who just walked out. Do you always let him wander like that?”

Chanyeol gulped uncomfortably. “He’s… he’s not mine, actually.”

She looked surprised. “Oh. Well then, the other two who went in… were they yours?”

He shocked her again by denying it. “They’re none of them owned. I’m just a friend. I drove them here.”

“How… bizarre…” she hummed, not quite disapproving but intrigued.

Before Chanyeol had time to explain the situation, however, Baekhyun came back into view through the glass hallway. He had his hand on the handle of the door when something in the other room caught his attention, as in Baekhyun caught someone else's attention. Baekhyun froze, head turned towards the teenage girl Chanyeol had briefly noticed earlier. Her eyes were wide open and shocked and excited, and suddenly Chanyeol recognized the girl. He hadn't seen her in years, not since he'd left his home and moved away. And he knew Baekhyun must not have seen her before too, not in a very long time.

The first time Baekhyun met her, she was the baby of her family, ten years old and absolutely in love with the new, cuddly hybrid her parents had just brought home. 

Baekhyun looked like he was about to have a seizure, caught in the middle of the hallway where the girl was already moving towards him and Chanyeol was too slow to reach him first. His legs felt suddenly way too long and weak to hold up his weight, even as he leaped to get onto his feet.

"Baekhyun!?" came her muffled squeal of delight, muffled through the glass. "Baekhyun, it's you!" 

_No, no, no,_ Chanyeol panted racing for the door. She had already gotten to Baekhyun and was embracing him around the middle, all girlhood adoration returned the moment she recognized her once and former cat, and Baekhyun's arms fluttered awkwardly to his sides, as if he wasn't sure if he was allowed to embrace her back. It shouldn't have been a problem, not between them, not between the little girls he'd loved and adored. The problem was her mother, already right behind her in the doorway and spitting mad. 

"Hwang Jung Eum, what do you think you're doing!" the woman shrieked, and then she recognized Baekhyun and her eyes narrowed even more.

The reflection in Baekhyun's eyes as Chanyeol scanned them were a mixture of pure horror. Chanyeol flew through the door and landed in the hall between the hybrid and his old owner, determined to create a barrier to protect him, although nothing was going to stop the words and accusations and disdain Mrs. Hwang had for him, if she determined to say it. The last encounter Baekhyun had had with his long ago owner hadn't been a pleasant experience. 

_("Filthy, sniveling, cat! If I'd known what your type were really like, you think I would have brought you home?! Do you think I'd let you remain and be around my daughters?! After the chaos you've turned our household into? After what you've done to my son!?")_  
  
"Baekhyun, let's go," Chanyeol tried to dislodge the girl, before her mother became violent. 

The girl though was still sniveling in on Baekhyun's shirt, either from a cold or because she was so overcome to see him again, but none of that mattered.

"Jung Eum, back away from that cat before I drag you by the hair. And you! How dare you touch my child."

"Mrs. Hwang," Chanyeol tried to mediate, "He didn't.. we're going now..." 

Baekhyun still hadn't moved a muscle. Not even when the teenager stifled a small sob and backed away, frightened by her mother's reaction, did Baekhyun move. And that's when Chanyeol pulled him away gently by the arm and shuffled him quickly behind his back, out of the woman's hateful sight. She stood tall, however, redirecting her glare when she realized who was now blocking the way.

"Park Chanyeol? Well, I never... The runaway child," she sniffed haughtily. "Figures you would still be around, and in such company. What must your poor parents think?"

Chanyeol did not stay long to let her continue. He backed Baekhyun into the hybrid waiting area and tugged him across the room, lunging for the doctor's office door. The receptionist, who'd witnesses everything in the hall, hastily opened it up and rushed the two men, man and cat, into a room where they could begin the process of calming Baekhyun down. Tears streaked across his face, and by the time they got some privacy, they were coming down Chanyeol's too.

 

{Kittens of the Present and Past}

 

 

That same Sunday evening is when things began to change. Some began happening subtly, like Baekhyun coming home from the doctor's office and locking himself in his bedroom indoors. Like Kai being so upset and curious at that even though he didn't try to follow him in. Like Luhan and Minseok being asked to stay downstairs for a little while by Tao, and them complying. Joonmyun and Kyungsoo showed up around five o'clock and ate dinner with the rest of the hybrids. Chanyeol stayed too because he was worried about Baekhyun, Sehun arrived halfway through the meal, and Jongdae had no clue what was going on so he didn't even try to pry or be nosy.

“So... what's the occasion?” he asked Joonmyun instead, because the older human was not doing a good enough job keeping down something mysterious.

“What?” Joonmyun looked up sharply, only to find every hybrid at the table staring at him curiously. Instead of answering, however, he looked at Tao for a moment too long and that drew everyone's attention to him instead.

“Tao?” Minseok took the initiative. “Do you know something that we don't?”

“I....” Tao stuttered, shifting awkwardly on Sehun's lap because there weren't enough chairs around the table. Sehun was eating with only one hand. The other was wrapped protectively around Tao's waist like a seat belt.

“Geez, are we getting a new hybrid?” Jongdae finally asked. “Usually whenever you show up looking serious and uncomfortable, that's what it means.”

Kyungsoo kept his head fixed on his plate, looking at no one. 

“Is it to do with Baekhyun?” Kai asked.

“What? No, not that I know of,” said Joonmyun, and several of the hybrids ah-hah _ed_ at his statement that at least something else was up, if he was denying one explanation so emphatically.

The man glanced at his watch, grimaced, checked the wall clock too as if it would tell a different time. Then he cleared his throat, and hesitated once more. It took Kyungsoo putting one hand on the the crook of his elbow to prod the man along, and finally Joonmyun decided to explain.

“You... you're right though. About getting a new roommate. Yixing should get here in about half an hour.”

Everyone's eyes widened, with the exception of Tao, Sehun, and Kyungsoo - who had obviously been apprised of this fact before now. ”Another kitten?!” Jongdae was the most excited by the news, although Kai was right behind him in wonder. Minseok merely looked interested, and Luhan... coughed. 

“Two actually, if you want to put it that way,” Joonmyun elaborated, and this time Jongdae actually bounced in his seat. 

“Two!? Two kittens to play with. Oh, wow! But, where are you going to put them?”

Joonmyun cleared his throat apologetically. “Well, that's the thing. Kai, I was kind of hoping you might be persuaded to move in with Jongdae, Baekhyun too if we can persuade him and let them... have your room. They're... female actually.”

Shock went around the table, not because of the gender specifically but because there had never been a female hybrid in the house before. Tao watched as Kai and Jongdae both kind of flushed at the news, although neither Luhan nor Minseok looked phased. For several seconds there was silence around the table while only Kyungsoo scraped at his plate. Then, they began talking all at once: surprise that they were girls, excitement for their time of arrival, and how exactly was the room reassignment supposed to work, especially because...

“So, how are you planning to fit Jongdae, Tao, Kai and Baekhyun into one room?” Leave it to Chanyeol to ask the practical question.

Minseok offered the first suggestion, although he did it so hesitantly. “At least somebody could move in with us?” Luhan coughed some more and looked ready to fume, however, the eldest cat caught his attention and willed him to silence. 

“Uhm....” Kai looked just as confused. “I mean, Baekhyun doesn't typically sleep inside but...” 

“He still needs a bed,” said Chanyeol firmly.

Jongdae looked ready to argue with one or more possibilities, but it was Sehun who cleared his throat to speak. Tao suddenly got very interested in his plate, holding his balance while Sehun shifted uneasily. 

“Actually...” the human started to say, and then he gulped instead.

“Actually, what?” asked Jongdae. Everyone grew silent as they looked at them. “Sehun? Tao? What...?”

“Actually, Tao is going to move in with me.”

“What!?!” 

Greater than the fact they were getting new housemates, greater than the fact their hybrid housemates would be female, Sehun's pronouncement sent the hybrids into an uproar: Minseok and Luhan were shocked, Joonmyun actually bewildered, Kai's mouth dropped open, Chanyeol was befuddled, and even Kyungsoo picked his head up to join the staring match. But Jongdae was the loudest.

“No!”

“Excuse me?” said Sehun, eyes open wide.

“No! You're not taking our kitten away. How could you- How am I...? No! Tao, tell him! You can't- You aren't!”

It was with sad resignation that Tao had to look up and meet his friend's eyes. “Jongdae, I'm sorry... But-but Sehun and I talked about this a few days ago and... And we also talked to Yixing about it too, and he's okay with it!”

“I don't care if Yixing's okay with it! Tao...” Jongdae's eyes were starting to water and his lips quivered. Despite being a little sick and sniffling himself, Luhan scooched closer towards him and laid his chin on Jongdae's shoulder. 

“But... we need the space-”

“And that's not a good enough reason to move away. Just because we need the space. That's not good enough!” Jongdae kept repeating. Luhan burrowed a little closer to him, and Minseok looked ready to intervene as well. Joonmyun was flabbergasted and Sehun was starting to look more than a little uncomfortable, almost like he was ready to fight. He opened his mouth to say something, but Tao quickly shushed him with a single sideways glance and then he stood up. Sehun helped him get his balance, and then Tao wrapped one of his hands around Sehun's to give himself the courage.

“It's... not the main reason, Jongdae. I... We want to do this anyways and-” 

Jongdae successfully suppressed the second set of tears threatening to fall. He wiped his eyes, and looked away. Tao faltered and couldn't say anything more, but he glanced around the table and saw that most of them were looking between him and Sehun, their minds far away from the future roommates who were coming soon. 

Kai was the first one to speak, even while Tao stood there speechless, his hand still gripping Sehun's.

“Well, I think that's cool.” Kai looked at his plate but smiled shyly. “Actually, I think that's really great. I'm happy for you... All of you who have... someone. First Kyungsoo, and now you.”

Kyungsoo looked suddenly alarmed, and he almost squeaked when his name was mentioned in conjunction with Tao's, however, he didn't agree or deny it. At Kai's words though, Jongdae softened. Tao watched as he slumped in his chair and leaned closer to Luhan who was now side-hugging him and whispering something in his ear that nobody else could hear. It made Jongdae smile though, just a tiny bit, and Luhan preened at the reaction he got. 

 

 

“What did you promise him?” Tao heard Minseok asking Luhan just a little while later. After the big announcement, Joonmyun suggested they get the kitchen cleaned up and ready themselves for their guests. Chanyeol had tried one more time to see if Baekhyun would come out, was successful, and he and the hybrid were now eating a cold dinner outside by themselves. Joonmyun and Kyungsoo were upstairs with Jongdae prepping the room. Kai was being a bum, slumped on the couch as he waited. Sehun hugged Tao tightly in the doorway between the kitchen and living room, together rocking slightly right and left because no matter what they said, or how casually they said it, moving in with Sehun was a big step forward in their relationship. 

“I told him he could come cuddle with us anytime he wanted and I wouldn't kick him out,” Luhan confided with a muffled giggle in between doing the dishes.

Minseok snorted. “You little liar.”

“What? I'm not. I said it and I mean it,” Luhan insisted petulantly.

Minseok continued to tease him, but Tao decided to drown him out instead. A car door sounded from outside; Kai instantly jumped up and rushed out the door to accost them. Tao felt the world beginning to move, and he pressed closer to Sehun until it finally hit.

“They don't know yet, who she is,” said Sehun softly.

“No.” Tao buried his nose into the soft spot of Sehun's neck, anything to keep alive this one little moment.

“Are you going to come back with me tonight?”

Tao sighed and shifted his head slightly, just enough to speak. “No. I want to stay one more night. Just to make sure Jongdae is alright.”

“Okay.” Sehun did not try to make him change his mind, and Tao loved him for that. 

“Thank you.”

An excited yell came from outside, then laughter - Yixing's laughter. Tao broke apart from Sehun and yelled for the others to come down, informing them that their new housemates were here. Before any of them could lumber down the stairs, however, or out of the kitchen, Kai burst back through the front door exclaiming wildly, “It's a kitten! A real kitten! Jongdae! Luhan! Minseok! It's a kitten!!”

Tao laughed one more time as he joined the crowd that was forming in the entryway. Even Baekhyun and Chanyeol had come inside, craning over the crowd curiously as Yixing came through the entryway, a blushing female right behind him.

“Well! Hello everyone. Quite the welcoming party.”

There were a few _hellos_ , but most of the attention went immediately to the newcomer, and the bundle she was carrying. 

“Everyone,” Yixing continued, “This is Victoria. And her daughter.” He bowed out of the way to allow the young woman to be seen. Half of them gasped loudly; Kai was still sputtering. 

“Wow, you weren't kidding. It really is a kitten!” said Jongdae, his eyes practically beaming from child to mother, and back again.

Yixing smiled almost like a proud papa as he ushered Victoria further into the entryway, necessitating that the hybrids and other humans all move back and give them some space. Once they reassembled in the living room, he started the introductions, waving at each person in succession without pause. “This is Jongdae, Kai, Tao, my son Sehun, Minseok, Luhan, Baekhyun, Chanyeol, Kyungsoo, and Joonmyun.” 

“Hello...” Victoria finally spoke in a soft, uncertain voice. “Pleased to meet you all.” 

Tao could tell she looked overwhelmed, for he was the only person whose eyes she stopped on, and he tried to smile a little encouragingly since they had met already once before. Joonmyun also stepped forward, hoping to put her at ease.

“Welcome, welcome. May we ask, what is your daughter's name?”

Before she could answer, however, Jongdae - who was practically salivating at the sight of the baby - spoke out. “Can I hold her!?” 

Victoria glanced once at Yixing, who nodded, and then gently passed her daughter into Jongdae's arms. The hybrid's eyes sparkled and he cooed almost instantly at the baby with the tiny kitten ears. She had black hair like her mother, and as Jongdae rocked her in his hold she opened her eyes in surprise, gurgled once and then broke out into an unmistakable smile.

“Her name is Young Ji,” Victoria fussed with the blanket wrap, poking a loose corner through Jongdae's elbow as he smiled and smiled down at the baby. 

Yixing cleared his throat, and with a pointed look at Joonmyun he asked, “Have you told them yet, who she is?”

All eyes were instantly on Joonmyun's, excepting Jongdae who was staring at the baby, and Tao and Sehun who already knew. 

“I... haven't actually.”

“Ah then, I guess it's up to me to tell,” said Yixing with a little clap of his hands. “Victoria is here with us because I've been looking for her for quite a while now. She is in fact, a sibling to someone in this house. Jongdae, this is actually your sister, and Young Ji there... is your niece. Congratulations, you're an uncle.”

 

 

Yixing swirled around the last dregs of his cold cup of coffee, still grinning to himself even a morning later. The hybrids' faces of shock and joy and confusion and glee all rolled into one - it had been a better homecoming for Victoria than even Yixing had planned. How they'd swamped her and her baby with love and care, and how Jongdae refused to let go of Young Ji when he realized she was a part of his blood. 

“So it really worked out well?” A voice interrupted Yixing's musings.

“Hmm? Oh yes. Yes, very well.”

Chaelin hummed in approval from behind her desk. “I'm glad. Yixing, you've done well. As you always do.”

He tipped his head in her direction, slight thanks for the compliment, even if he didn't think he deserved the individual praise or merit. “So tell me about this place?” He'd stopped into the agency building on his way to 'work', partly to socialize for a short while, partly because Chaelin was still in the last stages of closing down the place for good. Almost all the kittens she had were properly adopted out. Only two remained: one who was going to be picked up later in the day, and the one who had never been chosen.

“I'm going to take him myself.”

“Who, Minsoo?”

“Yes. I decided to adopt. Yixing, aren't you proud of me?”

Yixing smirked. “You would make a good mother. Minsoo was always very good around you too.”

She smiled. “It'll be a change but... I'm excited about it. And anyways, that's partly why I wanted you to come by. I need a reference from somebody that's not myself, if I'm going to be allowed to do this.”

“Certainly.” Yixing drained his cup and sat up closer to the desk. They spent a little time talking about the process, as well as plans on how to move forward with Chaelin's next career move; what was to be done with the building when it finally closed its doors; her plans for buying a new apartment, one big enough for her and a child, a hybrid child. 

All of it made Yixing a little nostalgic, remembering when he first saw Sehun as a toddler, how his wife absolutely fell in love with him, a human baby. He'd always thought that they would adopt a hybrid, a kitten for Jaekyung to love because together they could not procreate interspecies. Funny how back then the laws, so flexible when it came to selling illegally underage hybrids, would not allow them to legally adopt a hybrid kitten. The tears that had gone into each and every failed process, the anguish that they might never have a child of their own. Yixing watched as Jaekyung's best friend married and had a baby with her hybrid mate. They called the baby Zitao and Jaekyung was very nearly distraught from envy. 

It had been Yifan who finally suggested the other alternative. While Jaekyung played with Tao and his parents, Yifan pulled him away to another part of his estate and talked about adoption, real adoption. The only kind of adoption still plausible for a couple like Yixing and his wife-who-was-not-really-a-wife. Not in the eyes of the law. 

_“Why don't you try it?”_ Yifan pleaded quietly, while Yixing hung his head. _”It doesn't mean giving up on hybrids. You can still do that. Every day you can still work towards that. You and me, and every soul with a real heart in his chest. We'll work at changing the world.”_ He'd winked after that cheesy line, and it made Yixing laugh. Together they'd been through a whole lot already. Freeing the female litter from an uncertain end had just been the first of their accomplishments. It got their pictures in the paper and settled them for good as hybrid rights activists. And also, for his trouble Yixing fell in love. He got the most perfect partner out of Jaekyung, and that was a whole lot better than Yifan got. His friend had to deal mainly with his unrequited love - watching the hybrid he liked fall in love with someone else, and then offering up his home for a sanctuary. Then again, the man was about as proud of Tao as if he'd been the actual father, and Yixing envied him.  
_  
“You think I should... that we should?”_

_“Of course! Talk to Jaekyung. Go walk through an orphanage. There's a child out there somewhere who needs a set of parents, and you two will do just great together.”_

In the end, it worked out. Sehun was two years old and happily sucking on his thumb when they first laid eyes on him, and that was it. Jaekyung was in love, and Sehun took to them so well. The toddler had no preconceptions; he had no idea that mothers were not supposed to come with fuzzy pointed ears and an extra appendage with which to swaddle him. And even if he grew up a grumpy child and lost his mother early, Yixing never abandoned him or gave up hope, praying that deep down Sehun would find his place in life, as befitting a child whose parents had been unique. And in the end, that worked out too.

“So tell me all about Tao?” said Chaelin now, eyes mischievous over the gossip Yixing had only briefly mentioned earlier.

He laughed. “Tao is... well, he's a good kid. Sehun is going to teach him how to drive next week. That will be interesting, I'm sure!”

“Ohhh, a driving cat. However did you manage that? Special license?” 

“Some sleight of hand. Guys who owe me favors, you know the deal.” Yixing shrugged like it had been no big deal, like hybrids everywhere were already allowed the luxury and independence that Tao was soon to have, if not officially than at least in reality. It was no small milestone. Full hybrid rights were still a long way coming, but it was a step. Yixing was only glad he was around to see it come this far. For once, it was himself who might have been envied by others. Jaekyung hadn't lived to see it, and neither had Yifan. 

“Did you know, we once tried to adopt Victoria? Her and one of her sisters. But the state wouldn't allow it... Then we lost her in the shuffle. Funny how things come full circle, in their own special ways.”

Yixing laughed indulgently at his own thoughts, and Chaelin put a hand comfortingly on his forearm. Silent support for everything Yixing had failed to do, and then some. 

“You're sounding quite old today, Yixing. Come on, where's your happy self? Want to come visit Minsoo with me? He's a bit glum now that the other kittens are gone. You're always so good with kids too. Oh and by the way, I'm still looking for a boyfriend? Future husband maybe? Hey, do you think Joonmyun would take me? Aren't we the same age?” she teased, and that got Yixing chuckling again.

“Absolutely not, never. He's quite taken I assure you.”

“What really?” She feigned indignance. 

“Well... not just yet, but practically so.”

 

{This House, This Source of Life}

 

 

“Kyungsoo?”

He heard his name being called from somewhere far off on the other side of the house, probably the front door because it was that time in the evening when Joonmyun typically came home. Kyungsoo's name was a beacon, part of the constant rotation of life now that he lived in Joonmyun's home. It was the human's way of developing a constant friendly atmosphere. He checked in on the hybrid first thing every time he stepped into the house. 

Kyungsoo didn't answer, knowing that if he didn't (and he usually didn't) that Joonmyun would take a minute to set down his things and trod down the hallway to see him for himself. A minute later, sure enough there was a little knock on the door and Kyungsoo did not bother to say anything, knowing as he did, that as long as he didn't yell out for Joonmyun to _not_ come in, the man would know he could open the door, just a little.

“Kyungsoo?” he said again, softer now as his face peaked through the open doorway. “How's it going in here?”

Joonmyun's smile was another constant now in Kyungsoo's life, the first thing Kyungsoo usually saw of him at the end of a long day. He turned his head from the computer screen and smiled back. “Fine. Quiet day. No visitors, no doorbells, one phone call but who knows who it was.”

“Good. That's good. I'll check it in a minute. Hey, what do you want to eat for dinner?” 

“Uhm,” Kyungsoo frowned. “Sorry, I didn't cook anything today... I forgot to...”

“Hm? Oh that's alright. I don't mean for you to have to cook every day,” Joonmyun rushed to assure him. “What about ordering something instead? Do you want take-out or do you want to go out and pick something up?”

Kyungsoo tried to keep his face from expressing distaste at the last suggestion. He liked food that came already prepped, but the idea of actually going outside with Joonmyun to get it was less appealing. His erratically swishing tail, sneaking out from between the seat back and chair pad probably tipped the human off to this. 

“Or, I can go out and bring something back myself,” Joonmyun said quickly. “Got any ideas of what you want to eat?”

And there was another dilemma of course. Kyungsoo might not appear to make a single effort when it came to socializing, but he couldn't deny to himself that being home all day was boring, and he really liked Joonmyun's company in the evening. Especially on days where he was gone for a long time, like today. Not greeting him at the door or saying hello first was just Kyungsoo's way of punishing the man. Now though...

“Order something for delivery?” he pleaded, knowing he'd get exactly as he wanted. Joonmyun couldn't resist his eyes like this, and Kyungsoo knew that very well. He knew how to play it up, the kitten look, and truthfully he felt kind of guilty most days because the human was rather pitiful like that: under Kyungsoo's spell. 

“Sure. I'll call something in.”

“Okay,” said Kyungsoo happily, turning back to his computer immediately like he was no longer concerned with Joonmyun's presence. He heard the door shut softly behind the retreating man, waited a minute longer until he heard Joonmyun getting off the phone, and then he finally said his goodbyes to his hybrid twitter friends and shut down the tab. 

He rolled away from the desk, admiring greatly Chanyeol's handiwork as part of Kyungsoo's newly refurbished bedroom. It included a built-in shelf with lots of places for his gadgets and games, and the short stacks of books for those rare days when the internet failed and Kyungsoo needed something to do. Plenty of growing space for whatever stuff he might get in the future. He'd made his bed extra cozy too, thanks to the allowance Joonmyun gave him-something Kyungsoo didn't think too hard on because then he felt less like a guest and more like an owned cat. The pile of fluffy pillows and blankets and even half of his wardrobe were all new, presents in a way from Joonmyun, whose credit card he'd let Kyungsoo use to purchase whatever he wanted online. Sometimes, the feeling of being owned wasn't too bad... although Kyungsoo definitely appreciated having his own space and time to himself, and he decided when _he_ wanted to be social, not Joonmyun. It was a good arrangement, and still the hybrid felt bad. Like he was living too well on Joonmyun's generosity and contributing nothing in return.

Perhaps his fellow hybrids thought Kyungsoo was moving in like a boyfriend might have done, but Kyungsoo was way more cautious than that. He knew Joonmyun liked him, but that was part of the problem. If Kyungsoo gave into his feelings and liked him back, publicly, non-secretly, then things would change... They were already changing, or had changed. But as long as Kyungsoo kept to the human-hybrid aspect of their arrangement then he wouldn't have to find out officially: if Joonmyun liked him as a cat, or as a human being. And Kyungsoo wasn't sure he was ready to be loved like a human being... he'd already spent so much of his life living like a hybrid, it was easier to just continue doing that.

He slunk out of his room, ears sensitive to Joonmyun's whereabouts. He found the man sitting on the couch, his phone on the armrest beside him and his cat-his real cat- demanding attention on his lap. Kyungsoo almost hissed. Joonmyun didn't hear it, but the animal certainly picked up on his intents. It fixed a surprised look on Kyungsoo and then jumped off. Joonmyun looked up, almost startled to see him come so soon. 

“Food will be in here in twenty. Want to see what's on TV while we wait?”

Kyungsoo didn't respond, neither saying anything nor nodding his head. He did, however, crawl onto the couch on the empty spot beside Joonmyun, knees sinking into the cushion as he crouched there for a moment before sinking into the couch and laying his head down right next to Joonmyun's thigh. He watched the TV lazily while the human flipped through the channels, purring when he felt the first hand graze unconsciously across his left ear. 

Joonmyun had taken so well to his warnings: _You can pet my left ear, but not my right... touch my tail and you may die... touch my stomach and you will definitely die._ Perhaps Kyungsoo had taken that a little far, but Joonmyun knew him well enough to make jokes about it. He intentionally never scratched behind his right ear, even when Kyungsoo begged silently for it, turning over and wiggling his head invitingly. He also occasionally plucked at his tail when he thought Kyungsoo was in a good enough mood, and usually earned himself a scowl and a playful hiss. He never touched his stomach though, or any part of his body really. Kyungsoo was starting to think that was a shame. Perhaps he shouldn't have acted so stern.

He rolled over, head a little closer, legs unfurling a bit to find a better position on the couch. Joonmyun almost didn't notice the switch, he was so into the TV and used to the fact that Kyungsoo didn't crave attention all too often. He sat up five minutes later when nothing happened, grumpier now, and scooted so that there was a foot of space between them. Then he continued to sulk and tried to curl up against the opposite arm rest. Only then did Joonmyun notice him.

He laughed. “What's the matter? Hungry?”

“Sort of,” said Kyungsoo. 

Joonmyun saw right past his petulance. “Just sort of? What's wrong, not enough pets today?” 

“Nope,” Kyungsoo agreed sullenly. He sat up a little straighter though in anticipation for the hand which came down heavily on his head. 

“That better?” Joonmyun chuckled. 

As usual, Kyungsoo didn't say anything, but he folded himself quickly towards the human until their sides were pressed together, Joonmyun's hand hesitating before sneaking around his neck, bent at the elbow as he fondled Kyungsoo's hair. He did purr though, to make sure Joonmyun knew his attentions were well received.

He was so careful with him, all the time, that it was sometimes so frustrating. Like Kyungsoo was a porcelain doll, fragile, breakable, or easily upset. When truthfully he was none of those things. Just a hybrid that wanted attention and space and some kind of companionship. He thought it would be enough to just live here like this. That he'd be content with only seeing Joonmyun part of the day and sharing a little time together. Kyungsoo never realized though how standoffish Joonmyun would become, thanks in part to Kyungsoo's initial attitude. He was barely prepared himself for how much more he wanted than to just be a cat. 

“Joonmyun?” He swerved his head around, looking the human in the face, or rather at his profile.

“Hm?” It took a moment before the man looked at him too. “What is it?”

Maybe it was now or never, but Kyungsoo had no idea what he was doing anymore. Watching how others were with each, other hybrids, other human-hybrid couples... all of that made him ache. 

When he didn't say anything, Joonmyun turned his head again, but this time Kyungsoo moved his hand and swatted at his chin, forcing it back on the second try. 

Joonmyun smiled, amused and a little wistful. “What?” he asked again, almost laughing at the hybrid. 

_It's now or never,_ Kyungsoo thought, as he leaned forward and put his lips squarely to Joonmyun's. 

 

 

It was odd how different the house looked, now from the outside, now that he didn't technically live there anymore. Physically, nothing had changed, except for Tao the entire world had changed since the day he first arrived. Now, walking up the driveway with Sehun by his side, Tao was a visitor to the shelter home he'd lived in for such a relatively short time. 

“You ready?” Sehun asked him, and Tao laughed.

“For what?”

Sehun shrugged. “I don't know. Could be a war zone in there, who would know from the outside?”

“You think it could seriously change so much in what- a week's time?” asked Tao as they approached the front door, fist held out and ready to knock.

There was suddenly the sound of something crashing from within, followed by several yelps, a howl, and a couple good laughs. Both Sehun and Tao stood there stunned, jaws hanging open, and then Sehun said, “Yeah, doesn't sound like anything too different.”

“Right. Let's go then!”

Nobody actually met them at the door, so they let themselves in just in time to see the final bit of commotion that was Jongdae sprawled out on the floor belly up, knees to the ceiling, his head hiding beneath the coffee table and his arms outstretched. On the other side of the table on the floor was Young Ji playing with a blanket (and Jongdae) while her mother hovered over her on the couch keeping watch. And by Jongdae's feet was the newly tripped Luhan, a tray of plates and bowls now scattered across the floor. Kai was the one now laughing, while Luhan continued to wail alternately at Jongdae for tripping him, or for Minseok to come and rescue him. 

Tao did the honors instead, pulling the fallen hybrid to his feet while Jongdae assessed that they had visitors.

“Oh, it's just Tao and Sehun? Sorry, I thought it would be somebody cool.” Then he went back to teasing his niece under the table. Victoria playfully kicked at his head and chided him for being rude. 

Having two new permanent guests hadn't changed much about the routine of the house. The eldest cats were still very much the same, keeping to themselves except when they were placed on babysitting duty. Luhan was a little more disgruntled about the noise level in the house, but Minseok swore he was complaining unnecessarily (since it was only for him that Luhan was irritated). On the other hand, Kai still had his work, although Tao had it on good authority from Minseok that the once-grumpiest-hybrid was now one of the most social, after Jongdae of course. Kai spent much more time actively doing things with the hybrids, and no one was fooled by his apparent admiration for Victoria, if admiration was all it was. Jongdae didn't think so, but when he wasn't scolding Kai for sitting too close to his new and precious sister, Jongdae was preoccupied with the baby. Discovering he had a family was life-changing, someone to call his own, flesh and blood, and a kitten, _an honest to God kitten_ that he could cuddle and love on till death. He and Kai fought all the time for the rights to play with her, as they were doing now. 

“Isn't it time for her nap?” Kai asked petulantly. 

“I think you're the one who needs the nap,” said Jongdae, still on the floor, although Young Ji was looking a bit peaky. Her smiles were still wide and bright, but starting to fade.

As Tao and Sehun helped Luhan pick up his fallen dishes, Luhan continued to mumble under his breath about _kittens these days_ while he wiped the dust from his clothes and swiped his tail once across Jongdae's face. Then he took himself off to the kitchen, and Sehun excused himself when he caught a glimpse of Baekhyun in the backyard. The two had become friends, somewhat. If anyone was ever allowed to become friends with the cheerfully standoffish hybrid. Tao pushed Kai out of the way and sunk down on the couch next to Victoria. 

“How do you even manage to sleep with all the racket these guys make?”

She smiled, a chuckle caught in her chest as she smiled fondly down at her family, Kai trying to pick up Young Ji and Jongdae swatting his hands away to let him do it instead.

“All noise and fussiness I'm not used to,” Victoria confessed. “But I like it. Being around... people like this.”

Tao tried not to remember the place he and Yixing had found her in, secluded quarters and literally days away from losing her child. Since she'd moved her, she looked less tired, less frightened. Her face was still pale in a sickly kind of way but there was a hint more color. Her eyes, now that she was relaxed, were a bit softer, a little cheekier. The longer he stared at her the more she looked like her brother. The more she acted like him too. Mid-conversation with Tao she suddenly snapped her head and scolded Kai for getting in the way and making Jongdae (playfully) cry. 

“You're hindering my brother's naptime!” she warned the other hybrid with a hint of a humor beneath her icy tone. Tao guessed she did this a lot because Kai literally wilted before her, and then smiled when he was reprieved. “But he is more of a baby sometimes than even Young Ji, so I guess I shouldn't blame you,” she said. Then she laughed outright. 

“Quit mocking my napping habits,” Jongdae warned her, winking one eye. “Someone in the house should be in charge of sleeping soundly in the afternoon. And it's definitely going to be me. And the kitten.” He cradled Young Ji fondly as her eyes fluttered close, small kitten ears twitching against the crook of his arm. “Thanks, sis. See you for dinnertime.”

Dinnertime, Tao knew, would include Yixing, and Joonmyun and Kyungsoo. Chanyeol too probably, because the shelter house was now such a happy source of life. If their known circle of humans had gravitated around there before, they did so even more now. Even Amber from the hybrid activists' office had shown up a couple times in the past week to meet and get to know Victoria, and to sort of stand as a shield between her and the overwhelmingly male dominated home. It was a good thing though that Victoria was not intimidated by them in the least. She craved companionship for her and her baby so much that none of that mattered, not even the frightful energy that peaked at least once or twice during the day, when all the hybrids were awake from their naps.

“Have you gone out at all?” Tao asked her now, anxious to know if she'd at least gotten to live a little. Tao hadn't exactly lived a secluded, slave-like life but he knew _he_ sure enjoyed getting to see what the world looked like beyond the walls of a house. 

“Into the city? No, not yet. Although Sehun volunteered to drive us out some day this week to go shopping.”

Tao smirked because Sehun hadn't offered at all; his dad had volunteered him in his stead. Sehun was incredibly grumpy about errands although he refused _not_ to take her, now that the outing had been planned. Tao had promised his boyfriend he would go with them as well, for moral support. It had nothing to do with wanting new things instead and now that he'd compiled a little spending money for himself...

“Well,” Tao told Victoria, “We all thought you could do with some sightseeing. It'll be fun! Hey, have you ever been through a drive-through? It's really cool! And they have these things called fries that-”

The back door opened again as Sehun came back inside, and Tao immediately shushed. Not because he was embarrassed to be caught ranting about fries again (maybe just a little) but because Sehun was actually smiling. Something that was uncommon after most of his interactions with Baekhyun. Also, the hybrid had followed him inside and they were laughing together. Tao's eyes immediately narrowed and Sehun paused when he realized he was being stared at.

“Someone's jealous,” Victoria hummed.

Tao immediately coughed. ”What? I'm not.”

She smiled mysteriously though, and under her breath she said, “I wasn't talking about you.” She inclined her head towards the front door instead. Tao hadn't noticed Chanyeol coming in either. Neither Sehun nor Baekhyun contrived, however, to look guilty, Sehun just laughing when he plopped down on the couch next to Tao, crowding the hybrid out. Tao squawked because he'd sat on his tail.

Baekhyun greeted the room, and though he appeared slightly more cheerful than Tao had seen him in recent weeks, there was still a disconnect between the smile on his lips and the blank expression in his eyes. “It was... too hot outside,” he explained casually, although no one had asked. “Is Luhan downstairs yet? I said I'd help him with dinner today.”

“He's in the kitchen already,” Victoria supplied. 

“Need any help?” Chanyeol asked as he he hovered awkwardly in the entryway. 

“Uhhm, probably not. Thanks,” said Baekhyun. And Chanyeol smiled glumly when he walked away. 

Tao tried not to speculate, and that was easy to do anyways because Sehun kept mashing his side, trying to get comfortable against the cushions. It was all Tao could do to not fall over into Victoria's lap, the latter watching them amusedly while they fidgeted and vied for couch space. Tao wouldn't say that everything about Sehun was roses and sunshine. All too often they squabbled over little things, and now that they lived together they bumped proverbial elbows often during the day. Plus, Sehun's bed was too small. Yixing had tried to get them a larger bed but Sehun was uncommonly stubborn about wanting to keep his old twin mattress set. Instead, the fought over pillow space, much like they were doing now with the couch, and on some nights Tao _accidentally_ shoved him off the bed. No matter though because come morning Sehun was resolutely back in his space and cuddling wordlessly, and to be honest Tao didn't mind it. Not really. 

Things would change for them no doubt, when Sehun went back to school in the fall and Tao would need to figure out what he was doing with his life. For now though, Yixing promised to take him under his wing as they'd discussed so long ago. Visits to agencies and adoption centers, checking up on the child-adopted kittens. Last week he had gone with the man to visit little Ricky and see how he was doing, adjusting to his new life with human parents. Next week he was supposed to go with Yixing and Kai to see the girl twins Choa and Way, something he knew the other hybrid was extremely happy about doing. There was also talk about Tao working with Amber at the activists' home office, and for this he'd be considered a part-time worker. Either way he was acquiring small paychecks here there. It was a start, and it would give him purpose. Sehun, when he wasn't busy hugging and kissing him or playing with his tail, was extremely supportive. 

“What were you talking to Baekhyun about?” Tao whispered once Sehun had found his cozy spot and pulled the hybrid's back to lay against his chest. Sehun breathed over his shoulder and tickled his neck, but his hands held fast to Tao's, their fingers entwined. 

“Hm? Oh, just laughing about Jongdae. How happy he is now.”

“And Baekhyun?” Tao asked. 

Victoria was busy trying to make Chanyeol welcome, engaging him in discussion since he seemed bummed out.

“What about him Baekhyun?” said Sehun, not getting the hint, and Tao let it drop. 

Half an hour later, Luhan was crying against Baekhyun's wishes for people to help in the kitchen as they prepared a larger than normal meal. Five minutes after that they had kicked Baekhyun out of the kitchen, period. Twenty minutes later the rest of their 'guests' arrived, all the familiar faces, all the people and hybrids who once were strangers but now counted as family. Yixing, who enjoyed teasing his son, Joonmyun who smiled at everyone, and was especially bright towards Kyungsoo. Minseok joined them finally from his nap, and Jongdae woke up too, carrying his niece and keeping her from Kai. Both he and Victoria chased him around the living room trying to recover the kitten but to no avail, while Tao and Sehun sat back and watched it all.

They pulled out every chair in the house to crowd around the table, elbow to overlapping elbow and the only thing that could have made it better was if Tao's parents could still be alive, and his old master as well. Instead, he had to be content with a house brimming with friends and Sehun at his side, and an uncertain future but that was alright. 

 

 

Baekhyun left the table early, his belly already full and halfway into a comatose from all the sickly sweet couples sitting around the table. For once, he wished he was the kind of hybrid who liked going on walks like either Tao or Kai, just so that he could get away for a bit and find himself. Instead, he just had his backyard and that was a sanctuary enough but sometimes he wanted more.

He went out there instead, just to breathe the late night air and check on parts of his garden that didn't need any more attention than he'd already given them. It kept him occupied for a quarter of an hour, and then he laid in the hammock and watched the cloud cover because no stars were actually visible tonight. There hadn't been a cool front for a while, and the night was warm. Perfect for sleeping outdoors just as he typically liked. Instead, he found himself growing bored with his own company and getting up, he sneaked around the side of the house, let himself in the front door. All of their guests would still be in the living room, and he really didn't feel like socializing anymore today, at least not verbally.

He went to Minseok and Luhan's room, because he knew they wouldn't press him. On rare occasions, theirs was the bed he liked to curl up on when he just wanted a body. A hand on his shoulder, a tail across his thigh, light breaths from Minseok or snores from Luhan, just enough to remind Baekhyun that he wasn't alone.

He crept down the hall, not exactly stealthily but quiet enough in case he'd drawn any attention from those down below. He put a hand to their door and quietly pushed it open, head poking around the wood frame to see inside. Sure enough they had gone to bed already. A small corner lamp remained on, dimly lighting the sparsely furnished room. Only their ears were visible above the covers though. Minseok's dark fuzzy hair, and Luhan's lighter hair, one tail poking out from the side of the comforter, and both so impossible close beneath the blankets. One lump where there were actually two. For a moment it actually caused Baekhyun to catch his breath, air catching in his lungs as he observed the two hybrids who'd grown as close to each other in the second phase of their lives than any two people could be.

Baekhyun still remembered arriving at the shelter, himself jaded and burned by human interaction, and yet carrying the torch for what he'd lost. Minseok had been just the opposite: hopeful in spite of his past, his body still bearing the signs of abuse, his instincts blazing whenever someone touched him and yet he'd tried so hard to fix himself, to heal himself. He'd let Luhan in, the younger hybrid's fastidious advances being too sweet and gentle to spurn. They were near to falling in love when Baekhyun first met them, and how he'd hated it, watching as their loved tipped and fell, and their smiles blossoming. Everything he'd had before and wanted more of. Everything that was denied him.

By his family, rejected, by his second owner, found defective. By his lover, only tears shed in private and then none at all.

One of the hybrids shifted under the covers, either Minseok or Luhan, Baekhyun could not tell which. Where there was one, there was always the other, living in tandem. They hadn't noticed him entering, and when one of them whined or moaned, Baekhyun didn't want to stay long enough to find out which, he backtracked as silently as possible and closed the door.

Two options were left to him: sneak back downstairs and return to the garden, or seek company elsewhere.

Somehow, however, he chose the third option. He didn't go anywhere. Instead he about-faced and stared at the his new bedroom door, the one where his bed had been moved, now sharing with not only Kai but Jongdae, now that Tao and Kyungsoo had moved out. He hadn't actually visited it more than once when he'd overseen the location of his bedside table and drawer, and some of his clothes. He never slept in there, although they kept his bed made up for him. It called to him now though, his things, his pictures. How long had it been since he perused the photograph Chanyeol had brought for him.

Chanyeol... Baekhyun nearly jumped when he found the human inside his room, sitting on his bed like he'd been waiting for him. And yet, Chanyeol was just as shocked to see him as Baekhyun was to find him there.

“What... I mean, hello,” said Baekhyun.

Chanyeol gaped at him, caught like an intruder and shocked into wordlessness. “Baekhyun... hi! Sorry, I... I...” he trailed off.

Baekhyun took pity on him. “Looking for a quiet spot?” he asked. “I noticed it was a bit loud downstairs.”

“Huh? Oh. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I just needed a minute or so.”

“So, you came to my bedroom?”

Chanyeol grinned, but he stood up guiltily and tried to straighten out the blanket covering Baekhyun's bed. “Well, you're rarely in here. I didn't think...” He accidentally pulled the comforter too hard and it became untucked from the other side. “Damnit,” he muttered.

“It's okay,” said Baekhyun. “You can leave it like that. I don't mind. Sit. You looked comfortable. I'm sorry I even bothered you.”

Of course, now that Chanyeol had taken his advice and sat down, that meant there wasn't any place of Baekhyun to sit, except on someone else's bed. He perched on the end of Kai's, mind almost numb to everything, except perhaps to the past.

“Did you... how come you came up here?” Chanyeol asked him after a minute or so had passed.

Baekhyun shrugged. “Just tired of being outside.” Lonely, looking for a cuddle, he didn't add.

“You? Tired of your garden? Unbelievable,” Chanyeol joked lightly. Baekhyun rewarded him with a short-lived smile, before he sighed and lost it all completely.

So many memories returning all at once, it almost made him dizzy. Just seeing Chanyeol like this brought them back. It didn't happen every time he saw the human. In fact, most of the times Baekhyun successfully shut out everything, treating the man like normal. He'd grown so good at it over the years. But now though, he felt a little weak, and his thoughts drifted back years to the last time he'd seen Chanyeol like this... in a bedroom. In Chanyeol's to be exact.  
_  
'I'm being sent back to the agency, Chanyeol. I think we should just... quit this.'_

_'What? Baekhyun, what?'_

There'd been such a long silence following his pronouncement, Baekhyun thought Chanyeol may have lost his voice forever.  
_  
'I said, they're sending me back and I think it's a sign. We should end this, before things get complicated. Thank you Chanyeol, it was fun. That's... all I came over to say so, Goodbye.'_

The second he tried to move, however, Chanyeol found his words.

'Goodbye? Goodbye?! Baekhyun, what do you mean? That makes no sense!'  
_  
'Chanyeol, I'm going back to the agency!'_ Baekhyun had snapped, because how dense could Chanyeol be. _'That means I won't live next door to you anymore. I'll probably get sold out again to new owners. Who knows where they'll live or what they'll be like. And I don't want to burden you with this anymore. This.... thing we have... No ones knows about it, so you're safe. You can go back to the land of the humans and nobody will fault you for loving a cat. Me, I'm going back where I belong, apparently.'_

How hurt Chanyeol had been to be spurned like that, but Baekhyun knew it was for the best. He'd already been spat at and cursed and damned by his house family. Accused of bewitching their daughters so that they only loved him, accused of seducing their brother--when it was everything but that. Baekhyun hadn't given one thought for the older boy in that house. His eyes had always been on Chanyeol, Chanyeol whom he'd loved in secret, dated in secret. The end had come when the boy turned on him. Not content with Baekhyun's platonic-only interest, he'd spread lies to his parents and essentially kicked Baekhyun out.  
_  
'I'm not interested in complicating your life either, Chanyeol,' he'd said. 'So let go of me and let's move on with our lives, huh?'_

How sad he'd looked. _'Baek, just because you're going back... I... I can get you out. I can-'_

_'Don't, Chanyeol. Don't say it. Please,'_ he'd practically begged. Silently pleading that his boyfriend wouldn't empty his savings just to buy him out, to save him. They'd had this conversation plenty of times. Baekhyun didn't want to be owned. He'd accept it from the world, because that's how life worked, but to have Chanyeol be the one to pull the strings... that was something he couldn't, wouldn't accept. 

But Chanyeol wouldn't let it go. _'I can get my family to...'_

_'Your family despises me as much as mine does because of what that boy said. I'm glad they don't know about us, because then they'd probably reject you as well and-'_

_'I don't care about that though! Baekhyun, they can think what they like and that's...'_

It had taken so long for Chanyeol to agree though. To persuade him that Baekhyun just wanted another start with another life and another family. And the more he said it the more he started to believe his own lies, to live them out, to own them.  
_  
'If we by chance meet again, let's say Hi and that'll be all,'_ he said finally to the assortment of tears Chanyeol had become. Then he left and never looked back.

“Chanyeol,” he said to him now, every awkward, torturous memory back in place. “You know, if you're tired of hanging out here you could just go home.” He tried to make it sound natural, pretending he had his voice under control, that no cracks were seeping through.

“I should,” said the man, almost defeated. Almost, but not quite. “Guess I just wanted to see you again though...”

“What?”

Baekhyun's eyes followed Chanyeol's gaze, at a photograph placed on top of Baekhyun's bed, at the open drawer where Baekhyun had earlier put it when he changed clothes. The photograph they had of them. Taken by timer at the heyday of their relationship, newly in love and all the world to live for. 

Baekhyun had given that all up because that seemed easier. Chanyeol in turn gave up his family and his entire life, because to him that was easier. And all this time Baekhyun refused to start it all over again. Why do it? Why subject them both to the hassle, to the stigma of a hybrid-human relationship when the world would only frown on them, and possibly force them to part. 

Seeing the other hybrids come to their own terms with life had affected Baekhyun though. Minseok and Luhan he understood in a heartbeat, Kyungsoo and Joonmyun he'd side-eyes because it never looked like they'd worked. Tao and Sehun, however, that was the catalyst behind which all of Baekhyun's fears clashed with his wants. And then now, at dinnertime when he'd caught the sly way Joonmyun found Kyungsoo's hand under the table, and the secret smiles they shared when they thought no one was looking. When the hybrid's tail had covertly hooked itself around Joonmyun's thigh.

“Chanyeol...” Baekhyun almost whined.

The man looked up at him concerned, photograph left forgotten because the real deal stood before him now.

“Chanyeol,” he said again, now hovering right next to him in front of the bed.

“Baekhyun? What is it? Are you alright?”

The hybrid shook his head. “No.”

“No? What's the matter...?” He held up one hand as if to clasps him around the waist, but Baekhyun saw the hesitation in his manner, as if Chanyeol was trying to restrain himself from touching because those were Baekhyun's unspoken rules.

_'How come you're here?'_ he'd said to the man when Chanyeol first reintroduced himself into their lives, sneaking in on Yixing's approval to work repairs on the house, play with the garden, make and fix the things that would be a comfort to Baekhyun, even when the hybrid refused to acknowledge him.

_'I missed you.'_

_'So?'_ Baekhyun had been so direct, so cold. Emotionless even when he heard the story of how Chanyeol had left and restarted his life and followed the trail to where Baekhyun had ended up.

_'Hi?'_ Baekhyun had said, and Chanyeol had smiled so big, so wide, so sadly.

_'Hi.'_

_'Nice to meet you, Chanyeol. I'm Baekhyun. Hey, I heard there were a lot of things that could be adjusted in this house. Yixing pays the bills. He's not my owner though, and not all that rich himself, so please don't overcharge him if you can't help it. This is just a shelter house for hybrids. We live simply and don't like interference. I'll be asleep on the porch if you need anything, which I trust you won't need anything.'_

Baekhyun took Chanyeol's hand now though and put it around his waist, so tired of playing this game. So tired of denying everything. What the others had now, he could have too, couldn't he? Wasn't he allowed as much?

“Baek?” Chanyeol voice had grown low, more than curious, positively alarmed.

“Chanyeol... can I just... for a minute... get a hug?” he asked, even as he sunk across the man's lap and entwined his arms around his neck. Chanyeol's arms instantly enveloped him, one around his back, the other darting up to his neck and hair and across one sensitive ear as Baekhyun's eyes lifted back the dam and his tears spilled out.

His simple solution of stepping away, from leaving everything so no one would hurt again- it had all backfired, slowly, painfully. But Chanyeol was there to catch him one last time.

“Anything, Baekhyun. Anything you want, and I'm here.”

 

 

**End.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, dear readers, this concludes this fic. One day last July I literally woke up, said, 'I'm going to write a kitty!au' and started it. No plot, no master plan, just a house full of hybrids and a lot of feels. It's sad to say goodbye to all my characters, all of whom I loved so so much, especially my dear Tao who I created as the main character. It was nice he let me share with everybody else too though :)
> 
> Please let me know how you liked this! A lot of tears and sweat went into this work, and I almost certainly won't be writing more of this au. I'm thinking about merpeople next. How's that idea sound? Hahaha
> 
> A big thanks to my sister BlueVIP and mom for alternating proofing, and to London_Calling and Byberry for walking me through certain steps of the plot. Also to my husband, who just kind of side-eyed me without judgment when he overheard me talking about Tao's tail. It was weird, okay. Wonder what he'll think about fins...


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